A Constitute Reality
by Weirdnessextreme13
Summary: Constitute: a word that means to make up or form something. A retelling of the cannon storyline, only Nagisa is female. AU. See how the story may have carried out if there were two main differences (fem!Nagisa as one) from the Anime and Manga, which would lead to some…changes in the End Class [Requested by Shiranai Atsune] (Cover image does not belong to me)
1. Chapter 1:

**Soooo, i received a request from Shiranai Atsune to write a fem!Nagisa fic in the cannon line...I'm sorely tempted. Sorely tempted.**

 **So here it is! If there are any warnings I need to mention, I'll put them in the authors note in the beginning XD**

 **It's going to be a** ** _little/lot_** **different from the main plot because of two** ** _tiny_** **facts;**

 **Namely:**

 _ **Nagisa is a girl**_

 **and**

 _ **You'll find out the second eventually XD**_ **(When, now _that_ I can't say...Whenever I feel like it, muahahahahaha)**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own assassination classroom, that belongs to Matsui Yusei, tee hee.**

 **Word count: 5912 (Chapter 1) prologue: 357**

 **(Also, it's been awhile since I've tried my hand at a multi-chapter thing, hopefully this goes well! [Be prepared for very long chapters :P])**

 **Oh, and this is told from Nagisa's point of view normally, or a general point of view. Depends on what would be appropriate for the scene. If you find any errors in my writing, please tell me, as I usually write in past tense but decided to write this in present tense, thank you!**

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 _Prologue_ :

The room is completely silent.

Nagisa shudders on her bed, arms wrapped tightly around a fluffy bunny stuff toy. When she had dashed up to her room earlier, she had thrown a blanket over herself for some small comfort. The blanket _is_ touching the bruises on her arms, but in a gentle way that makes them feel a little less painful.

Now she wishes she hadn't; she can't see anything in the room, except the pale yellow colour of her blanket, the sky blue strands of her hair, shielding her face, and the light pink colour of her stuffed toy. Despite the fact that she is covered, she feels a cold draft in the room. Shuddering, she tries to make herself smaller.

 _BANG!_

Nagisa flinches, burying her face into the bunny. It smells like strawberries, and that dumbfounds her enough to forget her fear.

But not for long. The sudden noise in a previously silent room is too sharp a contrast for her to not worry.

It had smelt like a toy, yesterday. What on earth...?

 _Tap._

 _Tap._

The rattling of a window.

Is someone trying to get in? Hesitantly, Nagisa glances around her blanket covered area. She's safe, isn't she?

Is it a monster? Or maybe, an assailant-

Then she realises the pattern of the sounds.

 _A loud bang, another, softer, bang, a gentle tap, a harder tap, a window latch being shaken, another tap before it loops again_.

Nagisa lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

 _She can't say she remembers a monster or an assailant who is close enough to her to know the secret knock she uses with only one other person._

Flinging the blanket off her, she clamberes off her bed, although still clutching the stuffed toy, and heads to her window. As Nagisa lives on the twelfth floor of an apartment complex, most people wouldn't think that someone could get in from the window, but the blue haired girl had chosen a room next to the fire escape ladder as her bedroom. Nagisa slowly walks over to the window, before releasing a sigh of relief and throwing it open.

"Missed me, Nagisa-chan?" Behind the window, a boy her age with golden eyes, a bastard's smirk and crimson red hair, waves cheekily at her, half-on, half-off the ladder.

"Karma!"

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 _Chapter 1:_

 _If you eat tofu in this class, everyone will judge you_

 **or**

 _Assassination Time!_

*:・ﾟ✧*

The doom and gloom of the class seems to hang over them like a large, gray, cloud.

Everyone in the class looks worried, they all have bowed heads and pursed lips. Strangely, they are all wearing protective glasses, as though they are about to commence a very dangerous chemistry experiment.

 _Welcome to the E Class, or rather, the class of Failures who didn't manage to keep up with their fast-paced junior high school._

Then the door is flung open.

"Good morning everyone!" A slimy voice greets as it's owner enters. "We will be starting homeroom now."

Silence responds to the owner of the voice, who merely smirks, a wide, white as snow, smile against yellow skin.

"Whoever is on duty today, at your call," The owner of the voice says, seemingly to no one in particular.

"S-Stand," in the second row of the class, one column from the window, a petite girl stammers it out. Her hair is a light shade of sky, blue, and pulled up into twintails. Wearing a strange dark blue waistcoat over her uniform, she stands out among the class easily in terms of clothing.

In unison, the class rises to their feet and draws _guns_ , all aimed at the owner of the voice, who is standing at the front of their dilapidated classroom. The owner of the voice looks like a yellow octopus, as they have six tentacles as legs and two as arms, with a giant grin spreading across his face, and tiny eyes like little pills set wide apart. The octopus has no visible nose, and is dressed in strange looking teaching robes, a large, diamond-shaped tie hanging in front, with a brilliant yellow crescent moon sewn on it.

"At Attention," the girl calls.

The sound of twenty-five safety latches being released fills the room.

Swallowing thickly, the girl squeezes her eyes shut, before opening them again and narrowing her eyes in a concentrated manner.

"BOW!"

The room fills with the sounds of bullets flying as everyone opens fire.

But the yellow octopus manages to dodge them all, seeming to flicker between three specific points as he does so.

"Good morning!" The octopus says cheerfully, an attendance book and pen appearing seemingly from nowhere in his hands...er...tentacles... "While you are all firing, I will be taking attendance!"

"Isogai-kun!"

A muffled reply can be heard.

"I'm sorry, I am going to have to ask you to speak up, seeing as we are in the middle of gunfire and all," The octopus shouts.

"H-Here!" A boy in the front row, third column from the door, shouts. His hair is a grey-black, with two strange antenna-like strands on top.

"Okajima-kun."

"Here!" A boy with a butch cut and thick eyebrows calls out. He sits two seats behind Isogai.

"Okano-kun."

"I'm a girl!" The person called Okano yells angrily from her seat to the left of Isogai, the column fourth from the door and third from the windows.

"Kataoka-kun."

"Here!"

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Two minutes later, and the whole class is panting, worn out.

Wiping the seat off her brow, Nagisa stares at the octopus in front of her class, their _teacher,_ their _sensei_.

"Excellent!" Sensei laughed. "Everyone is right on time. That makes sensei very happy!"

Nagisa starts slightly as a dinging sound is heard and Sensei's face turns bright scarlet, a big, crimson 'O' on it as well.

"He's too fast!" A girl with shoulder-length, wavy orange hair the colour of a cantaloupe and grass green eyes sighs from her position near the back of the class, diagonally behind Nagisa, in the third row, third column from the windows. Strangely, unlike the other students, she isn't slumped over the desks and panting heavily, the only sign that she's tired is her uneven breathing and the sweat covering her brow.

"So shooting all at the same times isn't going to work," A blonde girl with narrow blue eyes groans, slumping over her desk in defeat. Her desk is the one in front of the orange-haired girl. "Damn!"

"What a shame!" Sensei chirps. Nagisa frowns, wondering if he's making fun of them as he begun to lecture them on tactics.

He must be mocking them, why else will their target give advice to them, his assassins?

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Here's a secret the class is supposed to keep:

They are all killers, assassins.

And have another secret, as a bonus:

Their target is their teacher

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"Be more inventive with your plans, or you'll never be able to kill Sensei," Sensei jeers in a matter-of-fact tone. "With my maximum speed of Mach 20."

Nagisa's eyes widen. Sensei hadn't been using his full speed? Feeling slightly crushed, Nagisa gently places her gun on her desk.

"But did you seriously have to dodge all of them?!" The boy sitting in front of Nagisa suddenly regains his energy and leaps to his feet, holding up a small pink circular thing - the bullets that they are using. His blue eyes are hardened with annoyance, and his tawny hair falls perfectly, as always.

 _Why is it that boys are always blessed with perfect hair, while girls have to actually comb and style theirs?_ Nagisa wonders, her hand drifting to her sky blue tresses, held in place by rubber bands.

"These _are_ just BB pellets, you know!" the girl to his right shouts, purple eyes screaming annoyance and her brown hair everywhere. _There's an example right there,_ Nagisa almost laughs at the sharp contrast to the girl's messy brown hair and the boy's perfect tawny locks. "You could've kinda taken them on the chin or something!"

As the class, all their lost energy returning, all voice out their agreement, Sensei sighs.

"Alright, load that and pass it to me, Okano-san," Sensei gestures to the gun the hands of the purple-eyed girl. _The one with messy brown hair_ , Nagisa thinks before catching herself.

"I've told you before," Sensei begins. "The bullets may be harmless to humans, but..." Sensei doesn't have hair at all, but if he did, the colour that would suit him is-

 _STOP THINKING ABOUT PEOPLE'S HAIR NAGISA!_ She screams mentally, bringing her hands to cover her face in embarrassment.

A gunshot, following by loud squelching noise draws Nagisa from her train of thought. Screams from her classmates ring in her ears as everyone stares in disgust at the wriggling yellow tentacle, looking disturbingly like extremely wriggly tofu, on the floor. _Sensei had shot off one of his tentacles_?

"These are special anti-sensei bullets designed especially to kill me," Sensei concludes. "And will slice through my cells like tofu. Of course, it will regenerate a few seconds later, but all the same."

Unbidden, an image of her dinner last night rose in her mind. Nagisa had had Chinese take out, with white tofu-

 _Don't think about that, Nagisa._

"But BB pellets would hurt if it got into your eyes," Sensei moves on to scolding tone, oblivious to Nagisa's inner struggles. "So, no shooting in class unless you're trying to kill me. Good job remembering all your safety goggles today, though!"

"I do hope you will be able to kill me," Sensei's face gains green stripes again. "That is, before graduation."

"Now, put away the ammunition and prepare for class!" Sensei announces.

Nagisa glances down at the disintegrating tentacle once more, as the bell rings.

 _A mistake. Can you get any dumber, Nagisa?_ She scolds herself as bile rises in her throat.

"Nagisa!" Nagisa's friend, Kayano, who has green hair and soft, wide, hazel eyes, frantically rushes to the blue-haired girl's side as she promptly vomits her breakfast all over the floor.

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"I'm so sorry," Bowing as low as she can manage, Nagisa apologises to Isogai, who had helped her clean up her vomit. It's embarrassing to vomit in class, but even more so when someone else helps you clean it up before you can so much look at it. The two students are in the infirmary, with Kayano rushing about outside, apparently hunting for a bin to throw Nagisa's plastic bag of puke. Since Isogai is one of the class representatives, he had felt obligated to take care of Nagisa, and Kayano was Nagisa's friend, obviously, which was why she's there.

"It's fine," Waving his hand in a dismissive manner, Isogai smiles kindly down at her, as she sinks into the infirmary's only bed...

 _And here's the time to feel bad about my height,_ Nagisa mentally sighs as she sags on the dusty, creaking, bed.

"I have two younger siblings at home, so I've had practise with this kinds of things," Isogai continues. "But you shouldn't feel bad, Shio...Nagisa-san, more importantly, are you alright? You vomited very suddenly."

"I'm fine," Nagisa nods. She is, really, just, she thought about the tofu she ate last night and the similarities between the white substance when she shook it with the wriggling yellow tentacle, with it's oozing yellow liquid-

Shaking her head, she chases the thoughts away from her mid. She doesn't need to toss her cookies again. "I'm fine, it was just...a one time thing."

"Are you sure?" Isogai asks. Nagisa nods, wondering if she looked pale or something. "Alright. You might want to rinse your mouth out, then, or maybe if you have a tooth brush...?"

Nagisa's cheeks flush. She forgot that vomiting leaves a bad taste and smell in the person's mouth. Her breath probably smells like sewage now. "I'll go to the toilet, then...Isogai-kun, if you can return to class first, I think I'll take a while, I also need to clean my clothes." Ruefully, Nagisa tugs at her mostly clean shirtfront, her waistcoat having taken the brunt of the puke.

"Alright, I'll tell Kayano-san to return as well," Isogai waves before heading out of the door.

Taking a few, slow, deep, breaths, Nagisa pulls out her phone and dials a number.

"Hello? Yeah, I'm at school," As she listens to the voice on the other end, she sighs in exasperation. "No, no, I don't want to _skip._ I just need your help with something." Pausing, she suddenly flushes. "No! Not that! Just, could you bring my toothbrush to the classroom? And my other waistcoat - _yes_ , girls are allowed to wear waistcoats, jeez."

After listening to the person on the other end, Nagisa laughs. "Thank you, Karma."

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The classroom windows had been opened to let in light, and to try to bring some ventilation into the stuffy classroom.

Isogai enters the classroom, shocking most of the class when they realise that the small blue-haired girl isn't next to him.

"Nagisa-san says she needs to clean up in the bathroom, so she'll probably take a while," Isogai tells Sensei, making everyone relax. Most of the class had thought that Nagisa was fatally ill.

Kayano flounces in shortly after, apologising to Sensei and taking her seat. Unfortunately, Kayano doesn't pay attention to class after that, alternating between staring out of the window, looking at the crescent moon, that has made a surprise appearance in the early afternoon, or practically burning a hole into Nagisa's seat with her gaze, as though she feels that the blue-haired girl would appear if she merely stares at her seat for long enough.

"I will go check on Nagisa-san, then," Sensei says, leaving the room.

Immediately, the class bursts out into chatter, but Kayano doesn't join in.

It is because Kayano is looking out of the window that she sees it.

Or, rather, him.

Kayano has never seen the tall, lean, (Not to neglect to mention, _extremely good-looking)_ redhead before, but then again, this _is_ her first year in Kunagigaoka. Assuming that it isn't anything important, she returns to glaring at Nagisa's empty seat.

Around the class, a few other people also notice the redhead, until a boy with a butch cut and thick eyebrows, suddenly shouts.

"Karma!"

And the class starts buzzing.

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A rather long interruption, to describe the Current Events.

Two weeks after the beginning of the schooling year, 70% of the moon exploded.

It came as a surprise to everyone, least of all the E students.

Shortly after, the octopus teacher arrived in class E, greeting them with a sunny smile. "Hello! I'm the guy who tore the chunk out of your moon! I also plan on doing the same to your precious earth next year."

There had been a pause as the whole class registered his words.

That hadn't been all.

"Seeing as I will be your homeroom teacher for your last year on earth, I look forward to getting to know you!"

The class faltered, all clearly thinking the same thing.

 _There's at least six things wrong with this picture!_

Then, out of the two men and one woman who had escorted the octopus inside, all dressed in suits, one stepped forward, gathering everyone's attention.

After which, most of the girls in class also were clearly thinking the same thing as they stared at the well-built, dashing, man in front of them, with spiky black hair and piercing, serious, eyes.

Something along the lines of ' _Kyaaa!'_

"I'm Karasuma, from the Ministry of Defence," the man said, confusing everyone.

 _The ministry of defence?_

"I..." Karasuma sighed. "Firstly, understand that what I say is classified information." The class exchanged befuddled looks. "Let me be blunt." In unison, everyone drew a breath, watching Karasuma.

"I want you to kill this creature."

Gasps filled the class.

"Umm..." Mimura Koki, boy with extraordinary plain looks, light saffron brown hair cut into a bowl cut and blue eyes, started speaking. "What's the deal? Is he an alien invader or something?"

"HOW RUDE! I'll have you know, I was born and raised on earth!" The octopus shrieked.

"I'm afraid I can't speak about the particulars, but what he said was true," _What really?_ , was written on each and every of their faces as they stared at Karasuma. "And he won't stop at the moon. Next year, he will destroy the earth.

Only the world's leaders know about this. If the news got out, we'll be looking at a global panic. So, we would like you to kill it before that happens."

"In other words: An assassination." As an example, Karasuma suddenly drew out a green knife from his suit jacket, whirling around to stab the octopus, who seem to disappear somewhere to Karasuma's left. There were gasps from around the class as they watched Karasuma spun around, extremely quick, and moved in for the kill again. As he continued in a similar fashion, Karasuma kept missing. "But here's the catch," He informed them in between stabs. "His speed is unmatched! You try to kill him, you get your eyebrows trimmed - immaculately!" To the shock of the class, the octopus produced a manicure set, trimming and combing Karasuma's eyebrows.

"He's a superbeing with enough power to reduce the full moon to a crescent; his speed tops out at Mach 20! In short, if he really wanted to get away from us, we wouldn't be able to do a thing to stop him." Karasuma concluded.

"But where's the fun in that?" The octopus packed away his kit. "So I made a deal with your government."

Setting his tentacle on Karasuma's shoulder, who had a noticeable tick mark on his forehead, the octopus elaborated. "They would refrain on attempts on my life, and in return, I would teach at Kunugigaoka Junior High's class 3E."

After that, Karasuma cleared up on the details of the deal. _He can't hurt students, you guys can kill him from close range, we'll be able to keep track of him. His face changes colour according to his emotions_ (This earned a few salty comments), _you all must keep this a secret, these are the weapons we will be giving you, they won't hurt humans but will harm that creature..._

And, the cincher.

 _You'll be paid ten million if you manage to assassinate him._

And that's all that is necessary to know.

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When Nagisa turns away from the front door of the old campus, she jumps when Sensei suddenly appears in front of her, outside the old campus, but at the door, bringing a large gust of wind with him. Hyperaware of the yellowish chunks on her waistcoat and skirt front, Nagisa takes a few steps away from the door. (Not to mention, she knows that she had the look on her face, the one people have when they are waiting for someone they really want to see)

"H-Hi, Sensei..." She greets with confusion, her eyes going first to the large dessert bowl he is holding, then to the thin, rocket-shaped thing tucked under his arm.

"Ah, I was on my way to check on you when I decided to pop to Seoul for some of their delicacies," Grinning even wider than before, if that was possible, Sensei holds up a bowl of shaved ice. "Bing Soo," He tells her. Then, following her line of sight, Sensei nods. "A missile. One of Japan's newest, I imagine. The government tried to nuke me as I traveled over the sea."

"Oh..."

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As she is walking back from the bathroom, her soiled clothes bunched up in her arms, Nagisa runs into Terasaka.

"Oi, Nagisa, did you note the colours and expressions that octopus makes, like I told you?" Terasaka asks, smirking at her.

Nagisa nods, searching for the small blue notebook she always keeps on her person. So far, she has been making notes on Sensei in it.

"Y-yeah..." Smiling, she begins reading the information out. "All we all know, green stripes are when he's confident. If a student gives a wrong answer, it's dark purple with a cross on it. When a student gets the answer right, he turns bright scarlet. His whole body goes red when he's angry, but what's really interesting is how after lunchtime-" She hasn't eaten lunch yet, actually.

"I've got a plan," Terasaka interrupts. "It's for when he's most careless. THen you'll stab him."

Nagisa falters. "M-Me?"

"Don't act like some goody-goody...we're the E class after all, the End Class!" Terasaka reminds her. "You think we're ever going to get another shot at getting ten billion yen? I sure as hell don't know about you, but I'm slipping out of this hellhole." Dropping a little pouch in her hand, Terasaka turns and starts walking away. "Oh, and if anyone asks, you didn't see me, cause I was in the toilet!"

Nagisa stares at the small pouch, parchment in colour with a scarlet ribbon wrapped around it's neck. It looks so innocent sitting in her palm, like a small party favour.

Closing her fingers around it, Nagisa returns to class

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The door slides open for the third time that period, and Nagisa slowly pokes her head in, surprising most of the class.

Actually, fourth time, if one counts the 'toilet break' Terasaka Ryouma, a boy with spiky brown hair shaved at the sides, which are dyed blonde, who has a darker skin tone than most of the class and light coloured eyes. Terasaka sat at the back row, the column nearest to the door, and apparently just walked out of the door because he needed to pee.

That's his story, anyway, the one he had told Nagisa to uphold.

Nagisa slowly enters the class, hoping no one will comment on her lateness, not to mention her now completely clean uniform...

"Nagisa-san!" Sensei calls.

Nagisa almost flinches, then forces herself to relax.

"I'm sorry for being late, Sensei," Nagisa babbles, words spilling from her mouth before she can help it. "But I had to change my clothes and the toilets are really gross and I had to rinse out my mouth, too, but the sink isn't any better-"

"I understand, Nagisa-san. Just go sit down," Sighing in relief, Nagisa practically leaps into her chair. "We are currently writing a poem-"

"Is it a love poem?" Nagisa blurts before she can help it.

Snickers spread around the class, and Nagisa flushes, sinking down into her seat in embarrassment.

"No, Nagisa-san, it is not. Although, you could make it one if you want. It is simply a poem that has to end off with a 'And it was tentacles all along'. I will be reading through your poems to check your grammar and seeing if you have accurately captured the beauty of the tentacle," Sensei nods at Nagisa before slowly turning pink from the top of his head to the tips of his tentacles.

On the board, a poem is written. After skimming it, Nagisa guesses that was an example.

"We have to write it was tentacles? Really?" Isogai sighs.

"Once you're done, feel free to go home!" Sensei adds.

"How we going to write about that?!" Kurahashi Hinano, a girl with wavy, orange hair that is light closer to her scalp and dark near the ends, and green eyes, asks in skepticism. She is the only girl Nagisa has seen who always has perfect hair.

"Well, now," Wriggling his tentacles emphatically, Sensei grins. "Aren't any marvelously slithery phrases coming to mind? Slither slither slither!"

"Enough with the slithering!" Maehara yells.

Nagisa glances down at the tablet he has left on her desk for her. Slowly, picking up a pencil, she begins writing whatever pops into her mind.

"Hey, Nagisa," The boy behind her, Sugino Tomohito, taps her shoulder.

"Hmm?"

"You missed him, but Akabane swung by! He went round the front of the building, so we lost sight of him."

"O-Oh? Karma-k-kun did?"

"I wonder why he came..." Sugino frowns.

"Y-Yeah..."

"He ran down the mountain after that, though. It was pretty funny. I wonder if he saw Sensei?"

"Sensei!" Kayano suddenly calls, attracting everyone's attention.

There's a pause, a short one, but there nevertheless, before Sensei reverts back to yellow and turns his gaze to Kayano.

"Yes, Kayano-san?"

"It feels a little weird only asking you this now," Kayano says haltingly, looking like she was reconsidering her words. "But what's your name?"

"A name?" Murmurs spread throughout the class, most of them only _just_ noticing that Sensei had not given them one when he had arrived.

Nagisa starts when Kayano asks that, her fingers tightening on the red ribbon of a pouch in her hands. As she looks up, she notes how Sensei's gaze passes right through her. He is lucky, she thinks. Although it's probably a little hard when the whole world is gunning for his head, it means that they are acknowledging his strength, doesn't it? Nagisa's begins working the ribbon until it becomes long. No one, after all, Sensei included, can see her, whether as a student or an assassin...he probably has never had to experience being weak, and consequently will have no idea what it felt like when everyone stares through you. Subtly, Nagisa fixes the pouch around her neck, so that it is almost like a necklace. _She might be able to kill him, after all, since this teacher can't see her either._

Memories from the year before swarm in her head. Shuddering, Nagisa recalls as everyone erases all traces of her from them, all forgetting her in an instance, as soon as they found out she was heading for the E-for-End class. She remembers her old homeroom teacher, scowling at her and telling her how sick he was of her. And how he was glad that he never had to see her again. Her fingers start shaking as she thinks back to the only person who hasn't abandoned her.

 _Oh, Karma is going to be so angry at her._

"A name, huh?" Sensei mulls it over, before replying. "I don't really call myself anything in particular...oh! How about all of you come up with a name, if you don't mind. For now, continue with your poems." Sensei slowly turns pink again.

Before she can second-guess herself, Nagisa stands and walks to Sensei.

 _What's really interesting is after lunchtime, around the time when we become sleepy,_

"Oh! Done already, Nagisa-san?" Sensei asks.

 _There's a point where Sensei's face turns light pink. He becomes slower when answering questions, like just now, when Kayano asked him something._

Behind her, she hears the sharp intakes of breath from her classmates, can practically feel them silently cheering at her. She hears Terasaka snicker. Behind her thin tablet, she has hidden an Anti-Sensei knife. No one has ever tried this before, so they are probably all rooting for her.

 _This time is probably when Sensei is at his most vulnerable._

"Yeah," Smiling, she counts the steps mentally. Seven steps left. Five. Four. "I tried writing it about love, like you suggested, but I really just wrote anything that c-came to mind...it's a little embarrassing..." Two steps. One. Scratching an itch that suddenly manifests on her cheek, Nagisa holds the tablet out for Sensei, acting ever part an embarrassed schoolgirl who has just written about love.

 _In this high end school, Kunugigaoka, the third best nation-wide, we in the E class, the prep-school failures think, "We've got to prove them wrong somehow. We'll show our parents, friends and teachers that we can do it if we try."_

The second his tentacle makes a move forward, she swings the knife at Sensei.

"Didn't I tell you to be more inventive?" Sensei has a grip on Nagisa's forearm, and plucks her knife out of her hand using a handkerchief.

 _We have to prove ourselves._

Leaping forward with a tranquil smile on her face, Nagisa knocks Sensei down, her arms wrapped securely around him.

As Sensei's skin colour transitions from light pink to yellow, she sees his eyes widen as he notices the red cord around her neck, and the _thing_ attached to it.

 _The BB pellet grenade, filled with anti-Sensei bullets._

The sharp sound of a chair scraping back attracts her attention, but only for a second, before everything blows up around her.

BB pellets explode around the room, bouncing off everything.

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"We did it!" Loudly, the three boys in the column closest to the door, in the last three rows, cheer. Terasaka and his two friends, Muramatsu Takuya, a boy with blonde hair and brown eyes and Yoshida Taisei, a boy with dreadlocked black hair and dark eyes, all laugh loudly.

The smoke in the room from the force of the grenade hasn't even cleared yet.

"Nagisa!" Clapping her hands to her mouth, Kayano's hazel-gold eyes widen as she fears the worse for her friend.

Most of the students look terrified and worried, save for Hazama Kirara, a girl with messy shoulder length black hair and thick eyelashes that nearly cover her dark eyes, who is watching with a small smirk on her face.

"Ten billion!" The three boys whoop. "Ka-ching!"

"Terasaka!" Isogai yells, turning in his seat to look at the obvious ringleader in this sick scheme.

"What have you done?" Maehara Hiroto finishes for the other boy. He is the tawny-haired boy Nagisa had mentioned earlier on, commenting on his 'perfect hair'.

"Bet he wasn't expecting a suicide bomber!" Terasaka howls sadistically as he looks over his work.

"What did you give Nagisa?!" Kayano shrieks, leaping to her feet in alarm..

"Huh?" Terasaka glances at the petite girl. "A toy grenade." Then, with the world's worse shit-eating smirk, he continues. "But I beefed it up with gunpowder, so that it'd shoot three hundred anti-Sensei bullets at crazy-high speed!"

Kayano gasps.

"It's nothin' strong enough to kill a human, anyway," Terasaka snorts, squatting to better regard his 'suicide bomber'. "My ten billion yen'll cover his med bills, no prob-" He takes in the appearance of Nagisa, the small girl who is curled under a strange membrane. "She's not hurt? Not even a single burn?" Picking at the membrane, Terasaka's brows knit in confusion. "What is this thing anyway? It's attached to that octopuses corpse."

"As it so happens," Comes a familiar voice, only it's coated in anger. "I shed my skin once a month." In front of Terasaka, Nagisa slowly opens her eyes, sitting up. The strange membrane splits around her as she does. "I protected Nagisa-san there by covering her with my old skin."

Nagisa glances up and shudders at the sight of two gleaming red eyes. Sensei is on the ceiling, looking livid. His eyes scream murder, and Nagisa wishes that he would stop talking. "It's my once-month trump card," Sensei growls. "Terasaka. Muramatsu. Yoshida." The three boys flinch. Nagisa doesn't need to look at the colour of Sensei's face to know.

 _Pitch Black...He's absolutely furious!_

Self-consciously, Nagisa wraps her arms around herself. She feels responsible for this. She should have refused Terasaka, but instead, they are here now, with Sensei prepared to chew them out.

"You three...you're responsible for this, aren't you?" Sensei asks, but it's clearly not a question.

"N-No!" Yoshida stammers out.

"It was all Nagisa's idea!" Terasaka is quick to shift the blame. Shuddering, Nagisa wraps her arms tighter around herself, pulling at the cloth of her clothes roughly. All three boys wear expressions of pure terror and Sensei's rage seems to form fog in the room, cutting off the sunlight from the window, the tension is so thick, no one else is speaking.

In the space of a second, Sensei disappears from his perch on the ceiling, leaving behind a giant wind. As everyone registers that he's gone, a sudden new gust of wind signals Sensei's return.

The sound of falling items draws everyone's attention. Three nameplates fall in front of Terasaka, Yoshida and Muramatsu. The nameplates from their houses gleam innocently up at them.

"My agreement with your government prohibits me from harming you," Sensei snarls. "But if you try another assassination like that one..." Sensei, who's holding a large burlap sack,slowly draws out a few more nameplates from his bag. "I just might harm someone else...your family...your friends..." he bares his teeth. "Maybe I'll kill everyone on the planet _except_ you."

Nagisa understands immediately, and, after a quick glance around her class, sees that her classmates have expressions that probably mirror her own. _Nowhere on this planet is safe from him. The only escape we have is to..._

 _Kill him._

Doing something that is either one of the stupidest (Ok, maybe not, she _is_ friends with Karma, after all, and he does some _pretty_ stupid stuff) or bravest (Actually, Karma has his brave moments too, so maybe not, too) things she has ever seen, Terasaka actually talks back.

"W-What the hell's wrong with you, anyway?!" He shouts. "You're a pain in the ass! You show up one day, all 'I'm going to blow up the earth!' and 'Kill me!' What's wrong with using an annoying method to kill an annoying guy?"

Suddenly, the heavy fog disappears. The tension practically evaporates and sunlight streams through the classroom windows again, and Sensei's face is scarlet - the face he makes when a student gets an answer correct. "Annoying? Hardly. Your idea itself was a very good one. Especially Nagisa-san, she carried herself in such away that I didn't suspect anything other than the normal assassinations," Sensei lightly pats Nagisa's hair and suddenly, a smaller whoosh of air balloons out. "That gets full marks from me. You did an excellent job on getting past my defenses."

"Sensei, please don't tell me you drew something weird on my tablet..." Nagisa sighs.

"Nyua!" Sensei begins to sweat. To Nagisa, he seems to be surprised that she had noticed him beginning to draw something. In reality, she had long since observed his strange behaviour and now knew when he was going to do something like that. "Um, I mean, However!" Sensei continues with his scolding.

"None of you looked out for Nagisa-san - not even Nagisa-san herself," His face flashes purple. "People like that aren't fit to be assassins. We need an assassination to be proud off! You are all capable assassins who have that power inside of you."

 _One moment, we're being chewed out at Mach 20, and the next, we're being praised with waving tentacles._ Slowly reaching out to smoothen her hair, Nagisa watches their teacher in bafflement. _It definitely isn't your usual education..._

All the same, it makes her happy. This unusual octopus teacher is actually willing to look them in the eye.

"If you ask Sensei," Sensei continues, lecturing the three boys, who groan and return to their seats.

Then, Sensei turns his attention to Nagisa, who's now standing, still staring at her strange teacher in perplexation. "Let me pose you a question, Nagisa-san."

"I have not the slightest intention of being killed. I will enjoy my time on earth until next march, then I will blow up the world," Nagisa blinks in confusion. _Huh_? "if you don't like that idea, what are you going to do about it?"

Nagisa thinks over his words. She has never assassinated anyone before, and she was pretty sure the rest of her class hasn't either (Thankfully), and there is plenty of other stuff they can be doing. But all the same, Nagisa feels some bloodlust in her. She thinks that this teacher might even be alright with them trying to kill him.

"Before you blow up the world," Nagisa smiles, her hands tightening into fists. "I'll kill you."

Green stripes flash across Sensei's face. "Then what are you waiting for?" The corner of his smile curls up into a smirk. "Once you've killed me, feel free to go home!" Sensei announces, switching back into yellow.

The class erupted into protests and Nagisa returns to her seat as they shout at Sensei.

In front of them, Sensei starts polishing the plates. Nagisa sees Maehara and Isogai both holding guns, watching sensei with guarded expression. _The two of them are strangely always in sync_ , she suddenly notices.

"An unkillable teacher..." Kayano voices her thoughts, surprising Nagisa.

"Huh?"

"Korosenai (殺せない) for unkillable, sensei (先生) for teacher..." Kayano suddenly turns to nagisa. "Oh! What about Korosensei (殺先生)?"

"Korosensei?" Nagisa knits her brows.

"Nyua?" Sensei jerks up at the sound of the name.

Nagisa smiles at Kayano before turning to their teacher.

 _So there they are, in their assassination classroom with Korosensei, where the bell has just rung..._

* * *

 **FOR SOME REASON MY BRAIN WAS ON HYPER ALERT AT THE FRONT BIT (That's why it's so different from cannon) then died at the end (That's why it's practically word for word copied...)**

 **Well, it turned out longer than I expected, sorry :(**

 **Anyway, obviously, that's what I mean by differences.**

 **Please review your thoughts or complaints!**

 **Oh, and:**

 **[Bonus] {See if you can guess what their relationship is XD}**

 _When Karma went to Class E in this chapter (To give Nagisa her stuff)_

 _(Written in past tense so I don't die)_

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Nagisa stood nervously at the front door of the old campus building. Karma had better hurry. She had missed lunch (She had been in the infirmary) and now was her second favorite class, Japanese. If Karma made her miss it, she would-

Ah, there he was. Relaxing slightly, Nagisa tapped her foot impatiently. Karma was wearing, for some reason, a dark blue cardigan and cyan undershirt that contrasted sharply with his crimson hair, and a pair of pale parchment-coloured jeans.

"Jeez, Karma!" Nagisa pouted, mock-glaring at the redhead as he presented with a bundle of clothing.

"What? You woke me up, so I took my time hiking up the mountain," Karma shrugged as Nagisa accepted the clothes.

Nagisa blinked. She woke him up? Over the phone, he had told her that he had been 'Awake for hours' and that she 'Didn't need to worry, [he'll] get her clothes and stuff.' "You told me you were awake!" Nagisa said, her tone accusatory, feeling guilty. Reaching out, she took his hand, pushing his sleeve up to his elbow. The two had hung out the day before, and Karma, in his typical way, had gotten into a fight and actually gotten hurt (Though, that may have been on purpose, so that Nagisa would worry about him, he _had_ seemed rather amused when she began panicking over his bruised arms) and she had confined him to his bed.

"I lied," Karma shrugged. "Didn't want you to feel guilty, like you are now. By the way, your classmates were ogling me from the windows."

Nagisa froze. She had forgotten about them. "Oh..."

"Relax, jeez," Karma grinned. "Are you going to kiss my bruises?"

Nagisa hesitated before frowning at him. "Only the one on your wrist." Bringing Karma's wrist to her lips, she pressed a small kiss there, making an exaggerated 'Mwah' sound.

"I couldn't see your teacher, though. Was it the Yukimura-sensei you're so fond of?"

Nagisa's face fell. No one knew what had happened to their previous teacher. She had just suddenly stopped coming one day and three days later, Sensei had appeared.

"Touchy subject?"

"They're your classmates too, you know," Nagisa changed the subject, smiling at Karma affectionately.

"Blegh. No thanks."

Nagisa frowned. "Karma!"

"Yeah, yeah. Now give me what you promised me," Leaning down so he was in eye level with Nagisa, Karma smirked. "Come on..."

"Karma."

"What?"

"You just insulted our classmates. I'm rather fond of them, you know," Nagisa pouted. Poking her finger into his chest, Nagisa gently pushed him away. "So I'll give it to you _later_."

"What?!" Karma's eyes widened. "That's not what you promised me!" He whined.

"Too bad," Nagisa leaned forward, kissing Karma on both cheeks. "Feel better now?"

"Yes. But you have better give me that game."

"Go run home," Nagisa gestured at her front. "As you can see, I need to clean up."

"Can I watch?"

Nagisa gave Karma an unimpressed look.

"Got it, got it," Holding up both his arms in an 'I surrender' manner. "I'll even run down the mountain as punishment."

To her surprise, he did just that.

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	2. Chapter 2:

**Oh wow...I am actually taken aback by the reception for the first chapter :O Well, it was a lot more popular than I expected it to be XD (And thank you for the reviews :3 I'll reply to them at the end of the chapter...I hope I don'd disappoint anyone with this chapter...;-;** **)**

 **Come to think of it, has anyone guessed what the second difference is? It's not too serious, but something that seems...interesting *cackles evilly***

 **Anyway, let's go on to the chapter XD [Warning, this one started a _little {A LOT}_ slow, not that many changes to the main plot during Baseball Time! ****Also some suggestive themes somewhere around Okajima, as always...I mean, just for today]**

 **Quick disclaimer: I do not own assassination classroom :P**

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 _Chapter 2:_

 _What does it mean to be in Class E?_

 **OR**

 _Baseball Time!_

 **AND**

 _Service Time!_

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"The moon is all they're talking about in America, huh?" Korosensei lies on a deck chair, casually sipping a cold drink and reading a newspaper, occasionally making snide comments. In the middle of a clearing in the forest behind the school...no defenses or anything...watching him from behind a tree, Nagisa feels herself sigh mentally. He really leaves a lot of openings for them to assassinate him, she thinks, her fingers ghosting over her knife. But not really, since Korosensei has an unmatched speed of Mach 20...besides, today was Sugino's turn.

"He makes a point of relaxing behind school everyday before homeroom, after visiting Hawaii to pick up a drink and a newspaper," Sugino murmurs before smiling at his shorter friend. "You were right, Nagisa, thanks!"

Returning his bright smile, Nagisa shifts from foot to foot, her notebook in her hands. "No problem. Good luck, Sugino. Though, for someone who always laments about being short on money, Korosensei sure buys a lot of things." As Sugino refocuses on Korosensei, Nagisa's hand drifts to her waistcoat pocket, where she draws out a tablet. It's the one from several days before, when they were to write a poem...

"Some people just aren't good at saving, I guess," Narrowing his eyes, Sugino uses a strange, well, strange to Nagisa's unprofessional eyes, but she does think that it looks awkward when he does it, wind up before pitching.

The baseball flies straight and true, and for a second Nagisa allows herself the naive hope that it has hit him when-

"Good morning!" A cheerful voice calls behind the two students. "Now show me your best greeting, no mumbling at all!" Nagisa's eyes widen as she notices that her hands are empty. Sugino, on the other hand, glances between the deck chair (Where the newspaper falls gracefully down) and Korosensei.

"G-good morning, Korosensei," Nagisa stares at her empty hands in embarrassment.

"So you embedded the anti-me bullets into the baseball?" Holding up a tentacle covered by a baseball mitt, in which the baseball Sugino had been holding was in, Korosensei begins the evaluation of the assassination technique, as always. "Much quieter than an airgun, for sure. However, the ball flew so slowly, I was too impatient to wait for it to arrive, but touching the bullets directly would not have been good for me, so I popped over to the equipment shed and got a catcher's mitt."

Nagisa feels her expression slip into one of disbelief. _What?!_ Next to her, Sugino's expression mirrors hers.

"I _do_ hope you'll be able to kill be," Green stripes colour Korosensei's face. "Before graduation, that is."

Turning, Korosensei begins to walk away. "Now, to homeroom."

 _He took my things!_ Nagisa stares wide-eyed after their teacher.

"Yes sir," Nagisa's attention refocuses on Sugino as he sighs, looking more dejected than ever.

"Dammit. I guess my ball won't work..." Nagisa watches as a grey shadow covers Sugino's face and he bites his lip. It's definitely the look of someone disappointed, but why? _It's not as though anyone has succeeded yet..._ Nagisa stares. This isn't about the assassination, is it?

"Sugino..."

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As the days lessons begin, Nagisa notices how Sugino's face grows darker and darker out of the corner of her eye. Frankly, it's a little worrying, especially since he is usually so cheerful. Since Sugino is Nagisa's closest male friend in the class, Kayano being her closest female friend, she really wishes she can help him.

"Hey, Nagisa?" Poking the other girl's shoulder, Kayano leans across the aisle. "Sugino's assassination attempt this morning went badly, huh?" Wordlessly, Nagisa nods. From the corner of her eye, she can see the boy sitting two rows behind her, a tall, lanky boy with limp gray hair and small eyes, drawing something in his exercise book.

"Is that why he's so bummed? I mean, none of our attempts...have...succeeded..." Kayano trails off slowly as Nagisa shakes her head. "He's not upset 'cause of the assassination?" Nagisa nods. "But it failed, right?" She nods again. "So...why?" Shrugging, Nagisa turns her attention back to the front of the classroom, where Korosensei is just writing an 'a'.

As she watches, he freezes almost unnoticeably, but Nagisa picks up on it. Then, Korosensei zaps to the back of the classroom and returns to the front in a gust of wind. Unnoticed by the rest of the class, Nagisa's eyes follow the yellow octopus teacher perfectly, even managing to follow the movement of his tentacles as he uncaps a red pen at the speed of light and makes a drawing on the exercise book that he seems to have snitched from the back of the class. Unless she's mistaken, he's drawing Saitama from One Punch Man on the exercise book of the lanky boy two seats behind her.

"Eh?" Only after the boy speaks up, noticing his book's absence, does the rest of the class realise that Korosensei is peering at them with glinting eyes.

"Sugaya-kun," Korosensei says. Sugaya, the lanky boy, jerks up, looking mortified. Korosensei's face looks like the devil's reincarnation... _what's he going to do?_ Nagisa

"Good job!" Holding up a penciled drawing of himself, with red marks drawing a leaner and bonier face, Korosensei pokes the exercise book with the pen. "But my features are more defined than that."

The thoughts of the class are unanimous -

 _HOW IS IT FINER?_

Maehara even shouts that, looking pissed off.

As the bell tolls, signalling the end of the period, Korosensei returns the book to Sugaya. "Oh, Nagisa-san, please come see me after school. I have to return you your confiscated items, after all, Nurufufufufufu!" Laughing, Korosensei throws open the class window. "Sensei will be going now. I have a game to catch in New York." Before he disappears in a large blast of air.

"There he goes," Terasaka says resentfully.

"It would be nice if he brought back some souvenirs for us, once in a while," Kurahashi comments offhandedly.

"But would you want something to remember your assassination target by?" Kataoka Megu, a tall girl with grey-brown hair, tied back with a barrette, straight bangs, and gold eyes stops by Kurahashi's desk.

"Well, he could bring us some food! Then it wouldn't stick around!" Beaming, Kurahashi holds up a finger, as though she had just solved one of life's mysteries. Smiling at her antics, Nagisa rummages through her bag.

"That's one way to think about it, I guess," Kataoka replies with a sheepish smile, as though she doesn't want to crush Kurahashi's hopes. _Where was her Bento?_ Nagisa's fingers lightly brush over something cold. _Wait, my bento is usually plastic - oh._

"What could he bring back from New York?" Isogai wonders out loud, still seated. In front of him, Maehara grins.

"Booze?" The tawny-haired boy suggests impishly.

"We're underaged, Hiroto," Isogai sighs, smiling almost painfully at his friend. Although she still isn't sure how Isogai and Maehara are so close, their personalities seem to be complimentary. Nagisa stands, slinging her bag over her shoulder and begins walking up the aisle.

"Yeah, snacks would be best!" Kurahashi says cheerfully.

"Or a blonde beauty!" Okajima shouts, standing and performing a strange sort of dance with this... _expression_ on his face, one that implies sinful thoughts. Nagisa freezes in front of Isogai's desk, her expression switching from neutral to mildly disgusted.

"Yeah!" Maehara laughs in agreement as Okajima begins hugging himself, chanting the word 'blonde' over and over.

Maybe it's because of her disgust that Nagisa speaks up, something she doesn't do often. "Why a blonde beauty though? It's not like Brunettes are ugly, and I'm pretty sure brown hair is more common in America."

"What do you mean, Nagisa?" Isogai asks as Maehara and Okajima pause, both looking deep in thought.

"Blondes are more common in Europe, actually, most funky hair colours come from Europe, like red hair or _blonde_ hair, not to mention our wonderful eyes," Nakamura Rio, a girl with long, straight, blonde hair and small blue eyes, smirks, flipping her _blonde_ hair for emphasis. She's from Europe natively, so it's obvious that she's proud of it. Nakamura pauses mid-flip, turning to face Nagisa with wide eyes. "Nagisa did your parents ever go to europe and have sex?"

Nagisa's eyes widen. "Nakamura-san!" She exclaims, with a scandalised expression.

"Fine. Did they conceive you in Europe?"

"That's hardly any better!"

"Did they?"

"I-I don't know?" Nagisa's brows knit together and she pouts. There's a pause in which the blue-haired girl wracks her brain frantically, not seeing the sudden circle of females surrounding her. _Did her parents conceive her in Europe?_ Nagisa isn't sure. It's not like she can just ask her parents where they had... _procreated_ to have her...

"You're so cute, Nagisacchi!" Okano Hinata shouts, a girl with brown hair only slightly longer than a boys', her playful purple eyes shining with mischief as she leaps forward and wraps her arms around the smaller girl.

"I JUST WANT TO SQUISH YOU TO DEATH!" Kayano agrees, tackling Nagisa into a bear hug as well.

"CUDDLE PARTY!" Nakamura screams and joins the two girls in their quest to strangle, sorry, _hug_ Nagisa. A few other girls exchange looks of disbelief before joining the pig pile.

"N-Nakamura-san!" Nagisa shrieks. To her, several bodies suddenly knock her onto the floor while she had been thinking, arms wrapping around her like the iron grip of a bear...a few bears. "Kayano! Okano-san! S-Stop!"

"Can't! Kurahashi's on top of me!" Nakamura replies cheekily.

"Eep!"

"Girls," Isogai laughs, shaking his head as the boys in class all stare at the tangle of girls on the floor.

"Girls are so weird," Sugaya agrees.

"I am suddenly thankful that despite my gorgeous looks, girls have never chased me that seriously before," Maehara nods seriously.

"Isogai-kun, help me!" Nagisa begs, her voice muffled by the girls on top of her. She can't quite see him but hopes that he will rescue her. Her breathing is being rapidly cut off.

"Alright, ladies, don't smother your Nagisa," As the rest of the class watches, Isogai actually _lifts up_ the girls and removes them from the pig pile, until Nagisa can be seen, gasping heavily for air. "Up you go," Isogai offers her his hand.

"The ikemen strikes again!" Nakamura whispers.

"No kidding," Maehara watches with a wide open jaw. "How did you pick up...?"

"Well, Isogai's right," Kurahashi smiles cheekily. "We can't kill our adorable little Nagisa!"

"Since when have I belonged to you guys?" Nagisa protests.

"Do you belong to anyone else?" Nakamura asks with a wide smile, watching as Nagisa mulls her words over, the pout on her face present again. An image of a _certain_ redhead comes to her mind, and Nagisa's cheeks heat up and she starts nibbling on her lip, feeling a fair bit ridiculous.

"SO CUTE!" Okano and Kayano squeal, rushing forward to Nagisa, only for Isogai to hold them back.

"Oh, Nakamura-san, I lived in Europe for a period of time," Nagisa says slowly. "And I guess I do belong to someone?"

"Belonging to yourself doesn't count!" Suddenly jumping into the conversation, Maehara watches as Nagisa's cheeks turn red. "I knew it! It's a boy!"

"W-What?!"

"I GOT THE ANSWER!" Okajima suddenly shouts, startling everyone in the class and effectively drawing their attentions.

 _Saved! Thanks Okajima!_ Nagisa releases a sigh of relief.

"Blondes have bigger boobs." Okajima declares in the same tone Kurahashi used earlier, the tone of discovering one of the world's secrets. "And not to mention, they're prettier."

"Got that right!" Nakamura laughs as she sashays back to her seat. "Beat that!"

"But isn't Yada the biggest?" Kayano asks.

All eyes in class turn to Yada Touka, a girl with brown hair in a ponytail, held with a scrunchie, and pretty, large, purple eyes. Yada looks slightly embarrassed as all eyes glance at her chest, comparing it in size to Nakamura's.

"She's right though," Kataoka nods.

"And Kanzaki-san is prettiest!" Kayano chirps. Kanazaki Yukiko, a girl with long, straight, black hair, brown eyes and a gentle expression is indeed the prettiest. The girl mentioned seems embarrassed, waving off the praise. It seems like Kayano's trying to knock Nakamura off her high horse, Nagisa thinks with a sigh. "So beat that, Nakamura!"

Smiling at the class's antics, Nagisa starts out of the classroom when she runs into someone.

"Karasuma-san!" Nagisa exclaims, causing everyone to look at the doorway.

"How's things going?" Karasuma asks briskly from where he had just entered the classroom. "Any clues how to kill him?"

"Clues?" Nagisa blinks at the government agents in confusion.

The previously lighthearted air in the class disappears as everyone's glance turns to the floor and no one makes a sound. Nagisa herself feels as though they had just received a hard kick from reality, reminding them all that they are ' _the misfits of the E Class'._

As though she has read Nagisa's mind, Hazama sighs, long and hard from where she's seated at the back of the class. "Well, we _are_ the E class."

"It's impossible, Karasuma-san," Isogai tells the man straight up.

"He's too fast," Mimura says ruefully, slumped over his desk.

"You can't kill him at that speed."

"It's true that no army is capable of that feat." Karasuma's eyes narrow and he begins giving them a stern speech. To anyone else's ears, it sounds like Karasuma is scolding that, but, watching his expression, Nagisa notices the softness in it. How, while his words are a little harsh, he's trying to make them face reality and give them encouragement, in his own professional way. It makes her smile, knowing that someone is looking out for them.

As she listens, Nagisa hears her phone buzz, in her pocket.

After drawing it out and reading the text she recieves, she smiles slightly and replies to the text discreetly.

 _Did you find my present? Figured your pissy mom wouldnt want to make you lunch after yesterday lol_ _(^～^)/_

 _\- K_

 _Yes, thank you for the bento_ _(❁´▽`❁)*✲ﾟ*_

 _I peeked and it was sushi! And sweets!_ _（*´▽｀*）3_

 _\- Nagisa_

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

Sitting on the steps leading to the courtyard, Sugino takes a small bite from his bento lunch before sighing and putting it away.

"You ok, Sugino?" A concerned voice asks.

Wrangling a smile onto his face, Sugino turns and nods at the petite blue-haired girl behind him. "Yeah, I'm fine." She hesitates, obviously unsure what to do. "Do you want to sit down?" He offers, saving her from asking.

Nagisa's expression clears and she smiles, sitting beside him. Sugino doesn't have any sort of attraction to Nagisa, although he will readily admit she's cute, as he sees her more like a little sister. Then his eyes fall on her bento, one that is a large metal lunch box. Frowning slightly, Sugino wracks his brains. Doesn't Nagisa normally have a light pink plastic bento with flowers painted on? Maybe she got sick of it, Sugino speculates. After all, it had been pretty childish...Whoa that's a lot of food.

After Nagisa opens her bento, Sugino stares at it open-mouthed. Next to him, the blue-haired girl has a similar expression of shock.

"That...a lot of...food," Sugino says slowly, still taking in the amount of sushi inside. It was a sizable box, packed with sushi with only a small section marked off for other food. There was every kind of sushi, from the more common ahi, ebi, ikura sushi to the more unusual unagi, hotate, hamachi, kani sushi and there were even some rolls, ranging from tempura rolls to california ones. Some pudding, jello and other sweets were inside as well. Glancing at Nagisa, he sees a gooey smile on her face. "Nagisa?"

"It's nothing. Itadakimasu!" It's the happiest tone Sugino has ever heard Nagisa use.

Deciding to leave her to her own devices, Sugino looks at the overgrown courtyard, feeling his downcast emotions return. He holds out his hand in front of him, gripping and trying to see how he can throw so slowly when Arita, the baseball star he has always admired and copied, throws so fast, no one can see the balls soaring past them.

"Here you go," Sugino jumps as a voice pops up next to him, a yellow tentacle covered by a handkerchief holding a baseball with pink pellets embedded in it. "All polished up."

"Korosensei!" Nagisa exclaims. "Welcome back," she offers when neither Korosensei nor Sugino responds.

"Ah, thanks," Sugino looks away, accepting the ball. Korosensei sits on Sugino's other side, clearly mindful of Nagisa's presence. Mindlessly, Sugino begins to throw the ball up and down. "How was-" Sugino pauses, staring at the thing in Korosensei's other tentacle. "Wait, scratch that thought, what's that?"

"Is that a coconut?" Nagisa says at the same time. The two students watch in shock as Korosensei smirks and takes a bite out of the coconut.

"Yes! I got it from Hawaii," Korosensei snickers. "Want a bite?"

"You're supposed to drink it," Sugino says in exasperation.

"Um, I already have my own food," Nagisa declines in a politer way.

"Nyua!" Korosensei squeals when he sees Nagisa's bento. "Is that a jello?"

"Do you want some?" Sugino asks offhandedly, only remembering too late that it's Nagisa's bento, and therefore the food isn't his to offer.

"I'll have some! Itadakimasu!" Korosensei announces, snatching it from the petite girl's bento. Sugino watches as Nagisa's eyes grow wide before a shadow passes over her face and she starts to pick at her food. "It tastes strangely like bugs," Korosensei remarks after a while, a weird expression on his face as he returns the now-empty cup of jello to Nagisa, picking up the pudding next. Nagisa doesn't protest, but her grip on her chopsticks tightens. Sugino almost hits himself for offering Nagisa's food to sensei. It's not in her personality type to yell at someone, so she probably keeps all her irritation within herself.

"I'm s-so s-sorry, Nagisa," Sugino stammers.

"It's fine," She looks up with a kind smile on her face. Sugino can't find a single bit of irritation in her face and he wonders if he has upset her or not.

"Anyway," Eating the pudding at a leisurely pace, Korosensei begins questioning Sugino. "So, you're in the baseball club?"

"I used to be," Sugino begins tossing the ball up and down again. "But when you're in the end class, since our grades landed us in here, we're supposed to focus on studying."

"That's some major discrimination," Korosensei tuts in disapproval.

"Not so bad sometimes," Nagisa speaks up. "I mean, when I see how hard my old club have to work now I sometimes feel lucky. They used to make me play the keyboard, and if I made the slightest mistake my head would be chopped off. Of course, another person's playing it now, but that's ok. Kar-My friend says that I play better, haha."

"Really, now?" Sugino laughs before getting serious, catching the ball, his face falling. "I made so many mistakes when i was playing. My ball was too slow. I was a horrible pitcher, and eventually, I got benched. I lost the will to study, too, and wound up in the old End class..." He stares at the ball, remembering how all the batters managed to hit every single one of his pitches, and how it would soar over his head and he hadn't been able to move, petrified by the glares that had been boring into him.

"Is that so?" Korosensei's eyes glint in the sunlight as he stares at Sugino, who suddenly feels worried. "Let sensei give you some advice..."

And that is how Sugino ends up suspended in the air in the courtyard, tentacles wrapped all around his body, one even in his mouth.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

Nagisa screams, nearly knocking over her bento of precious sushi in her hurry to stand. Luckily, Nagisa remembers to replace the cover and put it next to her as she hurries down the stairs to help her friend.

"Korosensei! what are you doing?! What about your promise to not harm any one of the students?" Nagisa asks frantically.

"That unusual pitching form I saw yesterday," Korosensei says, ignoring Nagisa's desperate attempts to pull his tentacles of Sugino. "You're copying major-league pitcher, Arita, aren't you?" Sugino's wide eyes affirms what korosensei had guessed. "But you know," Korosensei lowers Sugino down gently. "The tentacles tell all." His tentacles retract, and Nagisa helps Sugino up. "Your shoulder muscles are out of wack compared to Arita's."

"What's that mean?" Sugino all but snarls, and Nagisa feels her hands tighten into fists.

"You won't be able to pitch his super fastballs with _that_ body," Korosensei's eyes gleam and Nagisa feels something strange in the pit of her stomach. _Please don't say_ _what I think you're going to say, I don't want to see Sugino crushed..._ she thinks, looking at the ground. "No matter how much you try to imitate him."

Sugino's eyes go wide. All his hopes and dreams are all crushed with a single sentence. Nagisa can't help but see his expression, completely desolate and despairing.

"How-" Sugino starts in a scream when Nagisa cuts him off, her voice quiet and almost sinister.

"How can you be so sure?" Her fingers are cutting into her palms, but Nagisa ignores it, even brushing Sugino off when he sets a hand on her shoulder, whispering her name questioningly. "Because we're misfits?" Her voice grows in volume. "Because we're the E Class?" Nagisa's head snaps up and she's full on shouting now, enraged. "So we shouldn't even _bother?!_ Is that it?!" She shrieks, feeling like an absolute banshee.

A cloud falls over Sugino's face, probably understanding what she's talking about.

Looking unbothered by her outburst, Korosensei speaks. "How do I know?" He asks, his voice gravely and serious.

"Why, I checked the man myself yesterday!" Korosensei says cheerfully, holding up a newspaper with a picture of a pitcher in the same position Sugino had been in minutes before.

Their jaws drop. _Never mind, then!_

"I even got his autograph," Korosensei chirps, holding up a laminated sheet of paper, looking crushed at the words on it. ' _Keep your pervert tentacles to yourself!_ _Arita_.' Nagisa reads.

"Korosensei, don't you have any delicacy?"

"You asked him after _that?_ No wonder he was upset!" Sugino yelps.

"I couldn't believe my tentacles."

"I get it, I just don't have his talent," Sugino smiles at Korosensei. "Thanks for telling-" A tentacle snakes around Sugino, wrapping around his elbows and wrists.

"On the other hand, your elbows and wrists are far more flexible. Train well and you could far surpass him, there is more than one kind of talent. Find the assassination style that suits you," With that said, Korosensei retracts his tentacles and begins walking back to class. "And Nagisa-san, please come see me when you have finished your sizable lunch."

"My elbows...and wrists...are better?" Sugino is dumbfounded, looking at Nagisa.

"Congratulations," She smiles at him. "You have a talent in baseball!"

"That's great!" Sugino laughs, looking like he can bounce off the walls now that the meaning of Korosensei's words have sunk in.

Nagisa glances at him and chases after Korosensei.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

"Sensei? What was it you wanted to see me about?" Nervously, Nagisa squirms. They are standing at the classroom door, where Nagisa managed to catch Korosensei.

"Firstly, what were your thoughts on what just happened?" Korosensei asks, tentacles clasped together behind his back.

"You went to New York for Sugino's sake," Nagisa replies slowly, putting her inferences together. "Because you're his teacher. For some reason, you _really_ want to help us, even though you...you are going to blow up the world. Korosensei, can I ask you why you're our teacher?"

Korosensei seems to stare right through her for a second, before he responds. "I am your teacher because I made a promise to somebody. And due to that, taking you kids seriously is more important than the world."

Nagisa nods, before asking again. "What was it you wanted to see me about?"

"This!" With a flourish, Korosensei pulls out her notebook and tablet with her poem from the other day written on it, the items he had taken from her that morning. Nagisa backs away, feeling scared. _Oh no, no no no no no, no, please no-_ "It was a very well written poem! I could tell all your emotions have been poured into it." Korosensei returns her notebook to her, but keeps a hold on the tablet. "Of course, your notebook was worth looking into, but not much was in there, just little observations of me for assassination purposes, it will be good to add to those, you never know, even though I doubt you'll be able to kill me, but you will need all the help you can get... _BUT_ as I was saying," Nagisa covers her face with her hands in embarrassment. When he had started talking about something else, she hoped beyond hopes that he had forgotten about the poem... "It is a wonderful love poem! Now, sensei is just a little curious, so would you tell me, who is this for? Sensei wants to know!" Korosensei waves the tablet around. "I mean, look! It's more or less a confession of love! Now, who is it for? Is it Sugino-kun?"

"No!" Nagisa shrieks. Sugino is like her older brother, confessing to him would just be _weird_.

"Maehara-kun? Isogai-kun? Sensei wants to know!"

Her phone vibrates in her pocket. Vibrates again. Someone is calling her

"I need to take that!" Nagisa frantically grabs her phone, beelining for the door.

"Nagisa-san! No using your phone during school hours!"

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

A few days after the...interrogation...Sugino is back to his normal self, and has even asked Nagisa to practice baseball with him.

She's not good at it, but she does her best, watching in amazement as Sugino's balls increase in speed.

"Good job!" She tells him happily, and he grins at her.

"I'm not going to give up," He says easily. "In baseball _or_ assassination." Then, running over to the open window of the staff room, Sugino waves at Korosensei. "Korosensei! Could you come over here a second? I want to try killing you."

"Nurufufufufu," Laughing with green stripes on his face, Korosensei smirks. "Still haven't learnt your lesson, have you?"

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Six students lurk behind trees, watching as their teacher sits in the middle of a forest clearing. Korosensei is kneeling on a rectangular red mat, humming cheerfully as he makes shaved ice.

"There he is," one of the students, Kataoka, whispers.

"He said that he would be behind school today, eating snowcones made from North Pole ice," Another one of the students, Mimura, adds.

"That octopus, hitting the North Pole like it's a corner shop," Maehara, yet another one of the students, whispers.

"Well, he could do something more extreme," Yada, the fourth student, replies.

"Like what?" The fifth student, Okano asks.

"Maybe baking moon cakes with moon rocks?"

"That would just be insult to injury, Yada," Mimura points out.

"I agree."

"Let's go! We split the ten billion," the last student, Isogai, instructs them in a low voice.

The rest of the students nod.

Watching them from behind, Nagisa sighs. Korosensei's probably already aware that they were there. He had surprisingly good hearing for an octopus. Not to mention, all the six students are honest people who aren't good at faking smiles.

"Korosensei!" They run out from behind the trees, smiling and waving happily. "Can we have some too?"

Nagisa watches them. The gait of their running is a little awkward, clearly unbalanced, like they had been crouching behind trees for sometime, or something. Nagisa stares as tears run down Korosensei's face, the teacher beginning to narrate something.

"They have opened up their hearts to me," He says dramatically. "And with such smiling faces." Nagisa sighs again, not fooled by Korosensei's words. Sure enough, he soon corrects them as the six students reach for their knives, leaping towards him with blades extended and plastic smiles.

"How ferocious they must be!" He wails, dabbing at his eyes.

A large cloud forms where Korosensei had been just milliseconds before, and the students cough. Realising that the action is over, Nagisa begins to walk away, frowning at the notebook in her hands. _No shown weaknesses._ She thinks, before suddenly hearing shouting behind her. Turning back to the clearing, she sees all of her classmates holding rainbow tulips.

"HEY, KOROSENSEI!" Kataoka is yelling, looking like she's about to breath out fire. "These are the flowers we were growing!"

"I-Is that so?" Korosensei stammers out.

"How cruel, Korosensei," Nagisa's brows lift when she sees Yada's eyes tear up. "We took such good care of them, and they had finally bloomed..." She looks away, and Okano seems to have gotten teary too. _Oh my_ , Holding up her notebook, Nagisa watches them intently. _Note. They are honest people who can't fake their smiles but can really fake cry._

"Apologies! I'll go get new ones!" He flickers for a second and reappears holding an armful of bulbs. "I'll go replant them!"

Nagisa follows after Korosensei, Kataoka, Okano and Yada as they return to the campus building. Korosensei kneels next to a dirt trench that had flowers the day before. Korosensei begins planting the bulbs as two dragons - uh - girls watch over him.

"Be careful with them!" Megu scolds.

"Got it!"

"No planting them at Mach speed!" Okano shouts.

"Got it!"

"This is the guy who's planning to destroy the earth, right?" Maehara asks Isogai hesitantly. The two boys are standing a little ways off from the strange trio, watching them with skepticism. _I wonder who he made the promise too? Must have been someone pretty important for him to care so much for us..._ Nagisa thinks.

"Yeah...and here he is...planting tulips," Isogai smiles sheepishly.

"Well, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, or something like that," Yada says cheerfully.

"Yeah," Maehara agrees.

Nagisa smiles at her notebook for a bit before scrawling something down. To her, although it seems a little stupid, anything about Korosensei can be helpful.

"What'chu writing?" Kayano pops out from nowhere, peering over Nagisa's shoulder.

"I thought that I could maybe note Korosensei's weak points, since it could be helpful," Nagisa finishes the kanji she's writing. "Sensei mentioned that it would be good to take note of his weaknesses."

"What, really?"

"Not really, but the meaning was implied..."

Kayano takes the notebook from Nagisa's hands, looking through it. "Whoa..."

" 'When he shows off,' " Kayano reads. " 'Things get shaky.' Nagisa, that applies to everyone!"

"Especially Korosensei. When he tries to do cool things like lecture and replace knives with flowers while making shaved ice, something happens that works to his disadvantage," Nagisa points at Korosensei with her mechanical pencil. "The other day, he tried to take my phone and replace it with a knife, but he didn't notice that it was covered in itching powder, and had some over him the whole day. It was the strong kind, too."

"What? How did itching powder-"

"Never mind that," Sugino swoops in randomly, snatching the notebook from Kayano's hands. "What you guys looking at?"

"Some stuff about Korosensei," Kayano shrugs. "Nagisa says they could be useful..."

"Well, you never know," Sugino flips to a different page. " 'Height: About 3 meters standing on his tip-tentacles...whoa that's pretty tall. Special moves, Supersonic speed...well, that sounds faster and cooler than 'Moves at Mach 20', weight, lighter than he looks, mottos...learn and let live...how exactly did you learn that? ...Uh, sorry to break it to you, Nagisa, but-"

Bzz.

Bzz.

Sugino cuts off and both Kayano and he stare at Nagisa, where the strange noise is coming from. Nagisa sighs, smiling apologetically at them. "I have to take this," Turning, Nagisa walks to a corner of the school building, mindful of her friends' eyes on her. Her phone continues buzzing loudly in her pocket. Fishing it out, she gives a quick glance at the caller ID.

 _Of course._ Who else would call her in the middle of school?

"Hello?" She whispers softly into the phone, keeping an eye on Kayano and Sugino, who are staring curiously at her. Out of the corner of her eye, she can just make out Maehara, Isogai and Yada gaping at her. Using phones during school hours is strictly prohibited, and usually, Nagisa is a stick-to-the-rules person.

"Hey, Nagi," A voice greets her.

Nagisa closes her eyes. _Of course_. "Is there something wrong, Karma? You keep calling me during school hours...you know you're not supposed to." When she opens them again, she sees that the five students have gotten just a _little_ closer to her, trying to listen in.

"Yeah, I know I'm not, but like...well, I'm bored."

"Just play one of your video games."

"It's not fun anymore. I'm thrashing everyone, they're all so _weak_!" Karma whines over the phone. "And I've finished all the story-video ones."

"I'm sure you'll find something to do."

"Well, you unallowed me to go get in fights. Not to mention, I'm _especially_ bored 'cause like, some government dude is coming to my house tomorrow and mother made me pack all my things."

Nagisa's eyes widens in surprise, and she forgets to say anything.

"Nagi?"

"How many times do I have to tell you I don't like nicknames," Nagisa pouts, nearly jumping when she sees Kataoka and Okano stop shouting at Korosensei and move closer to her direction. _Sheesh, this is just a phone call_ , flushing, Nagisa takes a few steps back. _Why is everyone looking so amazed? I'm just on the phone..._ "So...your mom's at home?"

"Yep. Ma and pa don't want the government to think they're neglective or something," Nagisa can practically hear Karma's scoff, although he keeps his voice light.

"...Did she say something again?" Nagisa lowers her voice, noticing Korosensei beginning to slow down the bulb planting, clearly trying to hear what she's saying. After snatching her phone, sorry confiscating, the other day and receiving...itching powder all over, Korosensei knows better than to try that again.

"How'd you guess?" Karma laughs bitterly.

"Oh, Karma..." Nagisa thinks about Karma's mother. She's insensitive and brash, probably offending her son on accident. "She's just worried about you."

"Please. Can't you skip and entertain me? It's an emergency..." Nagisa mulls his words over. While she would love to see Karma, she can't skip school. She may miss something crucial about Korosensei.

Well, she may as well help somehow.

"I can't skip, but I do have something you might find interesting. I was saving it for your birthday, but since you need it now, you might as well go get it now," Nagisa sighs. She'll have to get another present.

"Oh? What is it? The One Piece game?"

"Yeah. It's in my room. Taped to the wall behind the Sonic Ninja poster."

"Sweet!" Karma crows.

"Is that good enough? Everyone is class is staring..." Feeling self-conscious, Nagisa cups her hand around her phone. Most of her classmates are gathered around the windows of the class, watching her, the rest of them staring from across the field.

"Say-"

"No."

"Aww. Got it, then. Thanks, Nagisa-chan, I'll see you later!"

"Yeah, bye," Stepping further away from the school, Nagisa whispers her goodbye. "Love you."

"Same," Click. Nagisa sighs, delaying in keeping her phone. The second it's gone from sight, Kayano's going to tackle her...

"NAGISA!" When Nagisa's phone has barely disappeared into her pocket, Kayano flings her arms around her, nearly knocking her over. Fortunately, Nagisa is prepared and merely stumbles and grabs onto someone's arm.. "Who was that? Tell me, teelllllll meeeeee! You were on the phone for ages!"

"Yeah!" Yada suddenly appears at Nagisa's elbow, grinning at her. "Who was it?"

Instead of answering, Nagisa stands quietly and patiently as her classmates swarm around her. Isogai and Kataoka scold her for breaking the rules. Terasaka and his gang, Yoshida, Muramatsu and Hazama all make offhanded comments on how against the code of conduct it is to use devices during school hours. Nakamura, Kayano, Yada and a girl with short dark hair styled in a bob with straight bangs and brown eyes, Fuwa, all pester her about who it was on the phone with her. Sugino follows the example of the girls, ruffling Nagisa's hair as well. Maehara and Okajima make crazy wild guesses at who was on the other end

 _Looks like it's going to be a long day..._ Nagisa groans.

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"I believe the ministry of defence has already informed you," Karasuma stares at the man in front of him...a man who isn't facing him, choosing instead to gaze out of the window. The principal of Kunugigaoka. "But as of tomorrow, I'll be joining the E Class as their PE and assistant homeroom teacher." Karasuma continues, elaborating on his role as he is in that position, even mentioning that he has a teaching certificate.

After he has left, his underling makes an offhanded command on how understanding the principal in. Karasuma doesn't hesitate to correct him, telling him about the compensation.

"Ouch! If I do any worse, I might end up in the E Class," Karasuma hears from a stout boy with pimples all over his plump face.

"Seriously? Once you wind up in there, you can kiss all hope goodbye!" Another one, a skinny, pale, boy with glasses answers, looking horrified. "They'll stick you in that satellite campus, with no meals, filthy toilets...you'll be treated like dirt by both teachers and student alike. You'll need crazy good grades to make it back."

And there's that, Karasuma thinks, watching the two students as they walk down the hall.

"It really is the End class, isn't it? I'd rather die than end up there." Karasuma looks out of the glass walls of the school, seeing all the students walking with their noses in revision books. Unlike most schools, it's completely silent...and nearly dead, everyone focusing on studying.

"I know, right? Better buckle down so we don't turn out like those losers."

 _It's simple. A small amount of students experience extreme discrimination, the majority will work harder, fueled with a sense of superiority and pressure. All the same, it's convenient for us, with the satellite campus. Though, the E class scapegoats may be ready to snap. Better prepare for that..._

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"Oh! Hey there, Karasuma-san!" Kayano grins when she sees the good-looking defence minister near the front of the school. She's on the way to the side of the school, armed with bamboo poles with ant-sensei blades taped to the top. Jogging on the spot, she stops to speak to him.

"Hello. Starting tomorrow, I'll be helping out as your teacher."

"Really?"

"I look forward to it."

"So you'll be Karasuma-sensei!" Kayano says in a bubbling voice.

"By the way, where is he?"

"Oh," Looking thoughtful, Kayano begins to walk, leading Karasuma to the side of the school. "Korosensei ruined the flowerbed and made Yada and Okano cry, so to make up for it, he handicapped himself for an assassination." Gesturing towards the yellow-green-striped blur whizzing around, dodging weapons, she points out the rope wrapped several times around Korosensei's waist, the other end connected to a tree branch. "Nagisa!" Joining her friend, Kayano offers her a bamboo pole. "Want to poke him?"

"Here's a little extra way as an apology," Korosensei says in a mocking voice. "You won't get many opportunities to have my movement restricted this much!"

"Thank you," Accepting the pole, Nagisa smiles at Kayano. "I just had the strangest idea."

"What is it?"

Nagisa whispers her plan into Kayano's ear and her eyes light up. "I thought we should have Hayami-san do this. She'll be the best." Nagisa speculates and Kayano nods.

"Hayami!" Kayano calls.

A girl with wavy orange hair let down just past her shoulders turns to look at them, her grass green eyes blinking curiously. Her name is Hayami Rinka, and she's who the girls are referring to. Kayano gestures for her to move over to them, and they whisper something in her ear.

Hayami nods and offers them a thumbs up, before pausing and bowing to Karasuma, who's just behind the two girls.

"Chiba!" Hayami calls, causing Chiba Ryonsuke, a boy with longish ink black hair and bangs that cover his eyes, to glance at her. "You got your penknife?" Chiba nods. "Ok. Boost me and pass it." Hayami points to the tree.

"What are you planning?" Karasuma asks, watching as Chiba moves about two meters **(Six feet and eight inches)** away from the tree, crouching down, his two hands interlaced, palms facing upwards, on his knees.

"Just watch," Kayano responds mysteriously.

Hayami takes a deep breath, kicking her shoes off, and begins running from where she is, in front of them. Just as she's roughly thirty centimeters **(A foot)** away from Chiba, she takes a running jump and her foot makes contact with Chiba's hands. Just as it does, he stands up and makes a throwing sort of gesture, and Hayami flies up into the air. Karasuma looks amazed, watching this junior high girl catapult into the air without a second thought. Hayami doesn't perform any acrobatics, merely grabbing the tree's branches and hoisting herself up. Chiba throws Hayami something small and she catches it, crawling along the branch to where Korosensei is.

This is all performed silently in less than a minute.

When Hayami reaches the rope connecting Korosensei to the branch, she makes a flicking motion with her wrist. Something gleams in the sunlight. The blade of a pocket knife as it is flicked out of its plastic case. Then, she looks at Chiba, who makes some movements with his hands, instructing her how to cut it. Hayami brings the blade down on the rope, and it immediately snaps.

Korosensei falls onto the floor, going completely motionless. Everyone freezes as well, registering it.

"CHIBA!" Hayami yells and the boy mentioned flings his knife.

Everyone moves after that, screaming. "KILL HIM!"

They are a fearsome mess, armed teenagers, some with amazing agility. Korosensei shrieks like a girl, rolling from side to side on the floor to avoid the attacks.

"Nyuuya! Watch out! Those things could poke an eyes out!"

"These notes may come in handy," Nagisa says haltingly, writing down a second one.

 _Korosensei weak points 2: Loses his composure rather easily._

"W-wait! My tentacles are tangled in the rope!" He stammers. "Why, you little-"

In a giant blast, Korosensei propels himself into the air, springing out of the ropes wrapped around his torso. He launches himself onto the roof, sweating and looking extremely vexed.

"Darn! He got away!" Okajima curses.

"We were so close," Kimura Masayoshi, boy with spiky green hair and small, dark, eyes sighs.

"You'll never make it up here, you lack the capacity!" Korosensei gloats. "You stupidheads!" He shakes out his robes, where the green knife Chiba had thrown had lodged itself. It clatters to the roof with almost no noise.

 _He's showing off his physical capabilities..._ Nagisa taps her pencil against the paper. _What will go wrong?_

"Hayami!" Chiba calls. He's already in position, some distance from the school building. Hayami stands on the branch she's on, looking unaffected by the way the branch is shaking, and leaps off the in a giant jump. Chiba doesn't hesitate to fling her as she nears him. Soon, having been catapulted onto the roof, Hayami slashes at Korosensei, who starts yelping and dodging frantically again, clearly not expecting any student to make it up.

"Nyuuya! Just a second, Hayami-san! No! Wait-" Korosensei finally grabs her blade, using two tiles he pried from the roof to prevent himself from being hurt by it. Before Korosensei can even think to groom her in retaliation, Hayami climbs off the building, surprisingly well-balanced.

"Nice, Hayami!" Nagisa exclaims when the green-eyed girl makes it onto the ground.

"It was a good idea you had," Hayami replies with simply. "Good job."

"That's it! I'm doubling today's homework!" Korosensei snarls spitefully, sweating intensely.

"So petty!" The class yells in unison.

 _Korosensei weak point 3: He's small-minded._

Korosensei promptly disappears.

"He's gone!" Kimura yells.

"But this is the closest we've ever gotten!" Kataoka is quick to cheer them up, a giant smile on her face.

"If we keep this up, we'll definitely get our chance to kill him!" Isogai adds. Their two class reps are quite _something_ , indeed.

"Oo! Then we'll have ten billion!" Yada laughs.

Okano starts jumping up and down excitedly. "What shall I spend it on?"

"Ten billion!" Maehara slings an arm around Mimura and Isogai.

As the class cheers, Karasuma watches.

 _Junior High students talking happily about assassination?_ He muses. _This is a strange place._

"Think we can kill him, Nagisa?" Kayano asks.

The blue-haired girl nods with a confident smile.

"Yeah. How else will we be able to live with him unless we can kill him?"

 _It's so strange,_

Yada and Okano grab each other's hands, dancing around the courtyard.

How _the liveliest students in this school,_

Hayami and Chiba are conversing quietly, smiles on their normally stoic faces.

 _Are here in 3E,_

Isogai draws some kind of battle plan on the floor, gesturing at it. Maehara nods, making some kind of joke that causes Mimura to laugh.

 _Where their target is teaching them._

Nagisa and Kayano exchange high fives, jubilant expressions on their faces.

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"So those are the circumstances," A woman says quietly. "Considering the earth's current crisis, if you breathe a word of this, you will be forced to undergo a memory-wiping operation.

"Eh? Scary," A redhead, sitting on his couch, smirks, making the woman bristle in annoyance. In his right hand, he holds a sheet of paper.

"All the students of 3E have undergone the same explanation," She continues. The redhead nods, everything now clicking in his head. Recently, a certain blue-haired girl had been _pretty_ vague about her teacher, the one she had been so fond of. Yukimura-sensei. And she had seemed more cheerful, smiling more and growing out of her shell. "Consider them part of the mission."

"After your suspension is released, you will return to the E Class. As such, you will be part of the same assassination assignment."

The redhead shifts, releasing the paper gently. It floats gently down and rests in the crack between the couch cushions. In his other hand, a green rubbery knife looks innocent. "So, uh, will this rubber knife really work?" The redhead bends the said knife back and forth.

"Yes. It's harmless to humans, but we guarantee it will work on him."

"That's good..." The redhead stabs the knife through the paper, lifting it up. "I've always wanted to try..." He releases the knife, where it falls onto the floor, the printed side of the paper up, showing a yellow octopus with green stripes on it's face.

 _"Killing a teacher..."_

Golden eyes gleam from behind his crimson hair.

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 **WHOA! I FINALLY FINISHED! OMG OMG OMG**

 **THIS TOOK ME LONGER THAN EXPECTED! WHEW!  
**

 ***collaspes onto couch***

 ***Springs up***

 **Alright, now for the extras (THERE ARE TWO THIS CHAPTER MUAHAHAHAHA), then the response to reviews.**

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 _Extras #1:_

 _Phone call_

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"Hello?"

"Yo, Nagisa-chan."

"Ah. Karma, what is it?"

"So the government had a very interesting _thing_ they were talking about. Had to do with an octopus."

"Did you learn about Korosensei?"

"Yep."

"Oh...How much?"

"Quick questions-"

"Wait, let me give you the mandatory warning. Ahem..."

"The mandatory what?"

"About the E Class, Karma. What else?"

"Oh. What even, Nagisa-chan?"

"You can drop the '-chan' you know..."

"Ah. No one near you, _Nagisa_?"

"Yes. Now, the warning..."

"What's the warning about?"

"Firstly, I have to say that the classroom really has no air conditioning at all. There are not even ceiling fans, or heaters. The lights are old and faulty, so we usually depend on light and ventilation, also the occasional breeze, from the window."

"Eh? Sounds pretty bad."

"So I would advise you not to wear your jacket."

"But we can both agree I look great in it."

"Well, it's certainly different..."

"Until you part with your waistcoat, I'm not parting with my jacket. It's Spring, after all. It could get chilly. Spring is super bipolar. Like girls on their periods."

"Karma, you did not just make a period joke."

"You're right. I didn't. Ignore that."

"...Because it's you, I will. Anyway, the toilets are graffitied and theres no toilet paper. Bring your own, ok?"

"I'm a guy. I don't need toilet paper."

"All the same..."

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 _Extras #2_

 _Acrobatics?!_

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"Eh, Rinka-chan, how did you and Chiba do that?" Kurahashi asks as she, Hayami, Okano and Kataoka walk home together. "I mean, you both have known each other _forever_ but still..."

"We've only known each other for two years and two months. Not _'_ forever' as you put it," Hayami responds.

"Eh? Only?" Okano gapes. "That's really short! Your teamwork is..."

"We both took a short course in acrobatics over the holidays. His cousin nagged him into doing it, so he brought me along and apparently, I'm decent at it," Hayami shrugs like its no big deal. "I couldn't do splits or anything, but apparently my sense of balance is...good."

"Whoa..." Kataoka laughs. "I'm guessing it's _very_ good?"

Hayami shrugs again.

"But, ACROBATICS?" Okano whines. "You should have brought me along too. I thought we were _friends!_ I love moving my body, and you _know_ that."

"I forgot."

" _What?!"_

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 **ANNNNNNNNNNDDDDDD Now it's over.**

 **Ok. *Cracks knuckles***

 **Response to reviews. Alright. I can do this...**

 **From earliest reviews to latest:**

 **Weitory:** _Muahahaha, here's the update! Hope you like it XD_

 **Thorion2281:** _Aww, thank you! Sorry about that random scene. It was begging to be written. I'm sorry about the dialogue for Korosensei! It felt like an important point, and I couldn't bring myself to skip over it! He was so badass!_

 **Konan248:** _Thank you! XD I LOVE KARUNAGI, *ahem*, I mean, I like Karma and Nagisa too! Ta daa! Updated!_

 **Shiranai Atsune:** _You know? Well, I wasn't_ that _subtle on it. [Or was I?] But oh, don't tell anyone, muahahahahahahahahahaha! All will be revealed..._

 _Eventually._

 **Sentimentalcircus1002:** _REally? Well, thank you firstly for loving this so here, *shoves chapter* Have a new chapter._

 **Hikariwhite95:** _Thank you for the compliment :3 The update is here now XD_

 **Hikariki-chan: (Or is it Emy? Hi!)** _Hi! Aww, thank you, but the chapter was rather long (This one is longer, tho) Do you really think that this is pretty good? Thank youuuuuuuu! I hoped you liked this story!_ It's _not as good as the first one, though, but still hope you enjoy! The relationship between little Nagisa and the tall bean Karma? Well well well...All will be clear soon._

 _Or not._

 **GingerHale:** _You did? Thank you! I'm so sorry I made you cry though...*searches for tissues* I can't find any...hope you enjoy this chapter :O_

 **Guest (1):** _あり顔！Or rather,谢谢, as they say in my country...Or thanks! (In english) Here's the update._

 **Guest (2):** _*poker face* She is implying nothing muahahahaha_

 _(Well, actually she was bribing him with one piece of strawberry cheesecake, one book on gameplay and some kisses.)_

 _[Whether the chocolate one of the_ other _kind, I'll leave you guessing]_

 **OK! That's all, then! I hoped you liked it, even though I started out realllllyyy slow.**

 **Fun fact:**

 **in my head, Nagisa is 145 cm, around four feet, ten inches, because I'm 163 irl, five feet, five and a half inches, and Nagisa being a smol bean is just adorable. So i guess in this fic she's a smol bean? No, that won't work. *Sighs* I'll just leave her a _teeny_ bit shorter than she is in cannon. So her height is something like...155, or rather, five feet two? Four cm shorter than her cannon 159, five feet three and a half, but still tall enough that the height difference is still cute.**

 **(What height difference? The one between her and Karma, of course! Nurufufufufufufufufu *Korosensei laugh*)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Alright! New chapter up, muahahaha**

 **Warnings for this chapter: Mildly romancy, so if you can't take that, skip the train scene...the second 'major' difference to the canon plot line is revealed!** **Yay? It's revealed in a very anti-climatic way and I'm _pretty_ sure a bunch of you all have already guessed what it is, anyway. Also, I guess nothing much else? Mild swearing, but this _is_ rated T...Oh, I also cannot make it in cooking, so I just winged it for that scene.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

 **But seriously. I had to retype ever bit of this chapter because my computer kept hanging and shutting off before I could save. So I _really_ hope you like this chapter SINCE MY STUPID COMPUTER ****MADE ME KEEP REtYPING THE WHOLE THING FROM SCRATCH GRR**

 **(Sorry, I'm still salty about that)**

 **Plus, this was an important...(sorta) Chapter for the story, because Karma is introduced, and Karasuma is elaborated on. I was also planning on putting the relationship between Karma and Nagisa in here, but because it. Kept. Shutting. Off. I. Kept. Loosing. The. Thread. Of. The. Story. So if you see anything that doesn't make sense, feel free to comment with constructive criticism! I'll probably rewrite this in the near future.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own assassination classroom!**

 **Fun fact: Nagisa was originally supposed to be a girl and get with Karma. *Fangirl screams* (from me) CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? KARMAGISA/KARUNAGI WAS GOING. TO. BE. CANNON. O. M. G. *screams at a pitch only dogs can hear***

 ***ahem* Back to the point:**

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 _Chapter 3:_

 _The cutest scene of bloodshed ever_

 **OR**

 _Fundamentals_ _time_

 ** _AND_**

 _Karma Time!_

 ** _ALSO_**

 _Time to choose!_

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"Nagisa, come on!" Kayano calls, peering at the Nagisa, sitting at her desk. The classroom is empty, everyone already having left already. "It's PE."

"Sorry, Kayano, could you give me a second?" The blue haired girl smiles. "I need a minute."

"Sure!"

When Kayano leaves, Nagisa sighs, pulling out her phone.

"Karma...where are you?" Nagisa whispers, staring at the texts on her screen.

 _I'll be there today, so look forward to that. K? - K_

 _OK! Be there when school starts, ok? Remember what you said. - Nagisa_

 _Sure. Yes, I remember that I promised you to be on time, blah blah. - K_

 _See you_ _\- K_

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"One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Six! Seven! Eight!"

The shouts echoes around the courtyard of the old campus, from a square of students in orderly rows, swinging knives in eight different directions.

"Swing your knives in the eight directions!" Karasuma shouts.

"One! Twwwwooooo! Three!"

"Maintain your balance!"

"Four! Fivvvveee! Six! Seven! Eight!"

"Ah, the sound of exercise in the early morning," Korosensei narrates, tranquil smile in place. "How peaceful..." He is dressed in an oversized PE tee shirt with the words 'Korosensei' on them, a baseball cap balanced on his bulbous head.. "If only the students weren't holding knives."

"I'll be in charge of physical education from now on," Karasuma tells Korosensei, who pouts. "Didn't I tell you to make yourself scarce during this period?" Gesturing at the sandpit near a pair of metal bars. "Go play in the sand or something."

"You're so mean, Karasuma-sensei," Korosensei whines, moving dejectedly toward the sandpit. Tears fall down his face as he pats the sand into a lump. "I'll have you know that the students _enjoy_ my classes!"

"Don't be a liar, Korosensei!" Sugaya stops in his movements, frowning at the large teacher. "The difference between our physical capabilities and yours are too great!"

"I'd rather have a _human_ PE teacher, thank you very much," Sugino says.

"You're too extreme," Nakamura sighs. "Don't you remember what happened the last time?"

The whole class freezes mid-swing, shuddering as a whole as they recall the chaotic PE lesson. On the bright side, it had ended in amusement with a side of Korosensei wrapped up in his own cat's cradle.

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Nagisa jumps as Maehara's voice jerks her out of her worries...er, that is, thoughts.

"Come on, back to it," Karasuma instructs. Nagisa nods to nobody at all, humming under her breath.

"Is all this training necessary?" Maehara asks before anyone can move. "And should we really being practising this under our target's nose?"

"Assassination follows the same principles as studying," Karasuma says. _The same?_ Nagisa's eyebrows draw together and she thinks his words though. "Drill the basics and they'll serve you well." _Does this mean that some people are talented at Assassination, like how some are talented at schooling?_ She muses.

"Maehara-kun," Nagisa watches as Karasuma's eyes fall on each and every class member before landing on Isogai, standing next to Maehara. She sees him appraise the class rep, before calling out his name. "Isogai-kun." it's a good choice. Isogai and Maehara are in perfect sync, almost all the time. _She really should ask them_ _how they're so close.._.Maybe childhood friends? She'll ask Nakamura later. Nakamura knows everything. "Step forward please."

The two boys exchange glances before stepping in front.

"Try to hit me with your knives," Karasuma says simply, loosening his tie and rolling up his sleeves. His blazer is already on the ground near the sand pit.

"E-Eh?" Isogai stammers. "Hit you?"

"Both of us?" Maehara asks.

"Yes. Those knives will not harm a human being, and once you hit me, even just lightly, you may all go home," Karasuma answers. Nagisa blinks. What point is he getting at?

Isogai and Maehara seem to communicate with a glance, before they both face Karasuma again.

"Uh, alright," Isogai dives forward immediately, slashing at Karasuma, who takes a step away to dodge, in the split second after Isogai completes his attempt, Maehara stabs at Karasuma, who hits his wrists and redirects his arm. After that, the boys keep up a continuous stream of attempts, both of them in perfect synchronization; as soon as Isogai finishes his attack, Maehara will take over, and vice versa. Nagisa can more or less predict their movements, watching and mentally noting how their reactions correspond to their movements, like how Maehara grits his teeth when he's about to slash and how Isogai makes a bit of a flick with his knife before he stabs.

"As you can see," Karasuma suddenly says, causing the two boys to stop, panting heavily. "With a little training, even I can handle the knives of two _amatures_ ," he hasn't even broken a sweat.

Maehara and Isogai grit their teeth, diving forward and stabbing at Karasuma's face. Two blades. Two angry and humiliated boys. Quite a force to rekon with. Yet, Karasuma easily grabs their wrists, flipping them over onto their backs, where Isogai and Maehara lie, gasping.

 _Wow!_ Nagisa's eyes go wide, and she thinks of Karma when he fights, completely dominating all his opponents with unnecessarily flashy combat...er, badass moves.

"If you can't even hit me, a human, you don't have a snowball's chance in hell against that thing," Looking pissed, Karasuma points forcefully at the sandpit. "See? Whist we were sparring, he built an Osaka castle, changed clothes and brewed up some tea!"

"Man, that's annoying!"

"Once the whole class is capable of hitting me, your chances of success will increase dramatically," Karasuma helps Maehara and Isogai up, dusting off their shirts. "In this class, I will be teaching you knifework and other assassination skills. That is all."

"Thank you, Karasuma-sensei," the class recites, bowing to Karasuma before splitting up into groups and moving back to the campus.

"Hey," Nagisa hears Yada say behind her. "Even though he's a little strict, don't you think Karasuma-sensei's kinda cool?"

"Yeah!" Kurahashi chirps in a bubbly tone. "If we manage to hit him, do you think he'll maybe pat us on the head?"

"I wonder," Hayami says in her cool way.

Nagisa smiles at them before turning her attention back to Sugino, who groans. "There's a test sixth period."

"Wish we could have gone home, huh?" Nagisa laughs, patting Sugino on the shoulder.

"Yeah! I forgot to even _study_!" Kayono complains. Nagisa is just about to reassure her too, when she sees him.

A figure, standing on top of the staircase leading to the courtyard. His red hair glints in the light, a sudden breeze stirring simply to block his jacket around. His golden eyes gleam like two lasers, and overall, he looks like the personification of the devil. The little innocent pink juice box labeled 'strawberry milk' doesn't help - only bring about the contrast even sharper between the devil-like person and the strawberry milk. Despite this, Nagisa feels relieved. _He's OK!_ Then, she realises what that means. _He broke his promise._ Nagisa feels her blood boil as she stares at him in anger.

"It's been a while," Akabane Karma greets, taking a sip from his juice box. "Nagisa-chan."

"Karma..." Nagisa growls.

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Karma winces.

OK, he _knew_ Nagisa would be mad. But although she begged him to, he couldn't just waltz into class in time for morning roll call. That would be so anticlimactic. This entrance was more his style. Dramatic. Stylish. Badass. So although it would put him in a _little_ trouble with his little Nagisa, he hopes that it would be worth it. After all, this was necessary, for him to do a certain something. Call it a sacrifice for the greater evil. Though, he will have to make it up to her later.

But anyway.

"Whoa," Hopping down the staircase, Karma makes his way across the courtyard. As he brushes past Nagisa and her...friend, he feels something grab his jacket sleeve. He glances at Nagisa from the corner of his eye and sees her slightly saddened, mostly annoyed, eyes. Her grip on his sleeve tightens before she releases it, and he continues walking, although a little fearful for his life. But that's for later. Karma files it away in the 'Things I should worry about but won't until it's too late' category of his head. "This is the infamous Korosensei? So he really does look like a octopus!" Karma stops in front of the giant yellow octopus, sipping his drink.

"And you are Akabane Karma-kun, am I right?" The octopus asks. "I've heard that your suspension was up today. However, that is no reason for being late to class!" He chides, a purple cross shining on his face. "Not to mention, you came to school early the other week."

"Ah, sorry, sorry," Karma laughs offhandedly. "It's a little hard to get back into the swing of things...that little incident? I thought that I had been asleep for a week!" Karma fibbs, taking a long sip from his drink. His lips curl up into a smile as he remembers when Nagisa had called him to bring in an extra change of clothes. That had been amusing. Tossing it to his other hand, Karma holds out his right hand to the octopus. "Just call me by my first name. I'm like Nagisa-chan in that way. Let's make it a fun year!"

"Likewise, Karma-kun," The octopus takes his hand, his tentacle-grip firm.

But only for a second.

There's a popping sound as Karma squeezes the tentacle, watching it fall off for less than a millisecond before he flings his drink straight up, creating a blind spot for him to flick his wrists so that the knife up his sleeve goes hurtling down to his hands. He slashes at the octopus, only to find him about three meters away. (Ten feet) Gasps and whispers come from his classmates.

As Karma catches his drink, his brain provides him with reasons.

 _I'm the first to hurt him, that's why everyone's shocked. He wasn't expecting this, that's why he moved back so much, he's actually really weak, that's why the knives_ _were developed very early into the year..._

"Wow, so you're as fast as they say," He comments offhandedly, smirking. his previously friendly voice turning proud and mocking. "And these knives are effective, as they claimed." He starts playing with the one in his hands, spinning and flicking it open, flinging it in the air and catching it. "Who knew it would've worked so well?" Seeing as his classmates don't understand his meaning, well, to them, he has never seen a knife make contact with the teacher, after all, Karma clarifies. "I cut one up realllll small and stuck the pieces to my palm." He holds up his palm, showing the thin green pieces. They have been chafing his hands all day, so Karma's glad to pick them off. He then shows off his knife, which's blade has been cut until it's original shape resembles more of a skewer. "But you know, sensei, I didn't think you would be fooled "I didn't think you would be taken in by such a simple trick. And jumping back that far, are you a scaredy cat?" Karma makes his gaze soft, a trick he has picked up from Nagisa. Except, while Nagisa's gaze has kindness behind it, Karma's has condescending and mocking fueling it.

The tentacle regenerates.

It's only due to Nagisa's information that Karma isn't shocked, the boy beginning to walk forward without so much a twitch of his smug expression. In his left hand, he holds his drink. In his right, he plays with the knife. "I've heard you're called Korosensei cause you're unkillable, but..." Moving so that the octopus is unable to see anything _but_ his face, Karma smirks, large and predatory, mocking and smug. "Could it be that you're actually a pushover?" Karma relishes the reactions of his classmates. Most of them are shocked, a few looking skeptical. Several are sizing him up, clearly re-thinking their opinions on him at first. All of them are curious. Except Nagisa. Nagisa just looks vexed.

The octopus's face turns red, veins twitching in his bulbous head.

"Nagisa! I haven't been in Kunugigaoka long, so I don't know him..." A voice starts somewhere to Karma's left. "What sort of person is this Karma-kun?"

"We shared classes in year one and two," Nagisa says in a robotic voice, devoid of all emotion. Turning away from Korosensei, Karma sips from his drink while playing with his knife, appearing careless in every manner. But inside, he's kicking himself. _She's really upset_. "But he was suspended due to his persistently violent behaviour. This behaviour knocked him down into the E Class, too. But, unfortunately, Karma might just be the best in class." Karma continues playing with his knife. Spin it like a baton. toss slightly to the right, catch, spin, fling it in the air somewhere to his extreme left, catch, slide into sleeves. Slide out. Repeat. After four repeats, Karma tires of that pattern and simply flip-bends the knife until it's small and stuffing it into his pockets, his hands following soon after. "Karma has us all beat in terms of foul play and deadly weaponry." He smiles, darkly, thinking of how _easy_ that had been. Seeing how 'Threatening the teacher' had seemed like it might be hard, he had put it at the top of his list. Now that it's done, Kama can tick it off his list. Next is 'Surviving Nagisa's wrath without doing anything that will piss her off more'. Somehow he wishes that he had put _that_ first instead. But still...

 _My, my, I hope I didn't scare you away Korosensei. Don't go anywhere._

 _I'll show you what it's like to be killed._

"What _Karma_ is right now," Nagisa glares at him. She's pouting, with her posture perfect as always, the light breeze blowing her twintails, he still can't believe her hairstyle, slightly, and her arms are folded. _It's quite hard to focus on her angry eyes when her lips are quivering like that,_ Karma thinks idly, before forcing himself to look away from her small mouth. Upsetting Nagisa even more now would not be a good idea. "Is in _trouble_."

A blonde girl, overhearing Nagisa's words, chortles.

"There's going to be some bloodshed up here!" She crows.

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Nagisa feels extremely betrayed.

Karma had promised her that he would come in at the same time as the rest of the class. She had been soooo worried for him! She had checked her phone in class, stared out the window and at the door, kept an eye on the Teresaka Gang...

Moving toward Karma, somehow, their class has created a ring around them, all looking curious, Nagisa scowls

Nagisa pouts again, and sees Karma blush. "Nagisa, I-"

"You're so mean!" Nagisa wails, beating her fists on Karma's shoulder. Seeing how she's shorter than him by _quite_ some, not to mention that he's somewhat a delinquent, Kayano yells Nagisa's name, obviously worried for her. Their classmates all murmur to each other, sounding just as fearful for he lifer. Despite that, Nagisa continues abusing Karma's shoulder, feeling satisfaction when he can't look her in the eye. "You broke your promise!"

"Yes, I know, I'm sorry," Karma sighs, patting her head.

"No, you're not!" Nagisa can easily see the amusement and slight strange light in his eyes. "Karma, I was waiting for you! I thought something had happened-"

"Yes, yes, I'm sorry," Karma looks as though he's contemplating something. "How can I make it up to you?"

"Karma-" Before Nagisa can finish her sentence, not even _just_ her sentence, her _first word_ of the sentence, Karma picks her up bridal style, laughing.

"Yes, yes, I'm sorry," He hums.

Nagisa goes silent, clinging onto Karma's shoulder. "Don't drop me," She says frantically.

"Yes, yes, I know you're not used to seeing the ground from this high up, but it's what tall people go through."

"I'm not talking to you after this," Nagisa whispers.

"That's OK, I'll make you talk to me, anyway."

And so Karma carries Nagisa up the stairs and into the classroom.

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"Well, I don't know about you people," Kataoka directs her words to no one in particular. "But that was the cutest scene of bloodshed I have ever seen, aheam, Nakamura."

"Like a child throwing a tantrum," Hayami agrees. "Before being carried away."

"Am I the only one who thought Nagisa was going to do something badass?" Nakamura asks. "Like, show off her secret ninja skills or something? But then she just threw a tantrum like a kid...?"

Everyone there raises their hands.

Then suddenly, Fuwa screams.

"What, what?" Okano yelps.

"Is there a bug?" Muramatsu shrieks.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Fuwa starts waving her arms frantically, bouncing up and down. "That, that, that, that...what are Karma and Nagisa to each other? Are they dating? Are they just best friends with _that_ tension? What are they? Nagisa calls Karma without an honorific, and he calls her by '-chan', the only one so far. What are they to each other?! I want to know, I want to knowwww!"

There's a moment pause before the whole class registers that.

And everyone goes nuts.

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 _Squish._

 _Squish._

 _Squish._

"What's Korosensei doing?" Mimura whispers across the aisle, where Yada is sitting.

 _Squish._

Yada shrugs. "I think he's...punching the wall or something?" She responds hesitantly.

 _Squish._

"Yeah, Karma's smack talking must have made him mad," Isogai turns around, he sits in front of Mimura, and shrugs.

"His tentacles are too soft to do any damage, though," Maehara stands up to see the wall Korosensei is punching.

Nagisa takes note of this.

 _Korosensei weak point 4: He punches like a wet sponge._

With their tentacle teacher not looking, some people in class is whispering to each other behind his large yellow back, like Nakamura and Fuwa, who are keeping up a frenzied whispering match. Others are taking their tests in silence, like Nagisa, Sugino and Kayano. _Others are being disruptive,_ Nagisa thinks and sighs as something she can barely feel hits the back of her head. She knows that Karma will keep this up until she forgave him. Honestly, he's like a child in elementary school, bullying people to apologise to them. Bending down, Nagisa sweeps the small, crumpled sheets of paper into her hands and deposites them on her desk. After unfurling a few, she finds the ones she's looking for and she arranges them in order.

 _'Sorry for'_

 _'Breaking promise'_

 _'Forgive?'_

The rest are more or less blank, only with a few printed words from whatever sheet of paper Karma tore them out from.

At the back of the class, Karma tears up another strip from his paper before crumpling it up into a tiny ball and throwing it at Nagisa. (A piece of used paper, of course. Nagisa would never forgive him if he wasted paper trying to gain back her favour) Since his aim is pretty good, if he can say so himself, it hits the back of her head more often than not. The boy sitting in front of him, Chiba, bursts into silent laughter every time Karma hits, so he's in shambles every other second. The girl near him, with the wavy orange hair...Hayami, is it? Is doing something like what Karma is doing to Chiba. Every time Chiba laughs, she tears a bit of paper and crumples it up, aiming into his mouth. Sometimes, she aims in such away that it flies right into Chiba's mouth mid-laugh, causing him to pause in surprise before spitting the paper out, which is quite amusing. Abliet a little gross, but Karma isn't going to judge. Squinting slightly, Karma throws the papers at the back of Nagisa's head.

Nagisa finally reacts, turning and blinking at him curiously. _Ah, she's not angry anymore,_ Karma sags almost unnoticeably in relief. Nagisa smiles at him over her shoulder, holding her index finger to her lips and tilting her head slightly, the obvious _'Please keep quiet_ ' signal. The overall effect is too cute. Karma's cheeks heat up, but he smirks back at her while trying to cover his red cheeks.

Nagisa almost grins overly widely when she sees Karma duck his head. It's quite funny how Karma-

"UGH! That's it!" Okano shouts, jerking up from her test paper. Nagisa jumps, and so does half the class. "Enough with the squishing! We're trying to take a test here!"

"M-my apologies!" Korosensei exclaims, and lays off the squishing. Nagisa sighs in relief, glad that Okano had become angry enough to say what everyone else is too polite to verbalise.

"Yo, Karma," The brute next to Karma hisses. Karma sighs, not even bothering to glance over. Is that brute's name Terasaka? He and his two friends smirk. Clearly, they're the 'bad boys' of this class, which just goes to show how far idiots have fallen. "That monster's pissed. Are you sure 'bout this?"

"And we're sure as hell not gettin' involved," The dreadlocked boy, Yoshida, is it, snorts.

"You sure you ain't better up holin' up at home?" The wimpy blonde, Muramatsu asks. Karma draws his conclusions almost immediately. _Since I got knocked down for fighting, they think we're alike. So they're trying to_ _start up a friendship. Hah._

After composing himself from his mental laughter, Karma glances over at the three boys. "You'll be pissed too, if someone actually tried to kill you, Terasaka," He gives his best shit-eating smirk. "It's a bit different from just having someone who fails miserably then pisses himself instead."

Terasaka makes a noise of anger, slamming his fist down onto his table. Ah, the poor table, Karma thinks dryly. "I did not piss myself! You cruisin' for a bruisin', pal?" Terasaka yells, forgetting to lower his voice. Karma faces the front again, waiting for Korosensei to take the bait.

He does.

"You there! No talking in class!" Korosensei scolds, pointing one tentacle finger at Terasaka. Karma sees Nagisa using her _'Please keep quiet'_ signal again, and he tries not to grin like a fool, because it's just really distracting. Instead, he pulls up some strawberry, his favourite flavor, gelato from seemingly nowhere. (Want to know where from? Well, that's a secret.) "You're lucky I haven't done you in for cheating!"

"Sorry, sorry, Korosensei," Karma says in a false bright voice, bringing the gelato to where it's visible even from the front of the class. "I've already finished my test, so I'll just sit here quietly and eat my gelato," He takes a lick from it. B _rilliant, as always._ Karma smiles to himself. _Genuine Italian Gelato is the best. He should get_ _mother and father to bring some back..._

"Where did you even get that from? Not during class you won't-" Korosensei starts before noticing the crucial fact. "Hm? Eh! Th-that's the gelato I brought back from Italy yesterday!" he shrieks.

 _It's yours?_ The whole class is clearly thinking that

Karma laughs to himself, taking another lick. Pulling out a small canister filled with anti-sensei bullets, he scatters them on the floor around his desk. "Eh, really?" Karma asks flippantly, resisting the urge to just gobble down all the gelato. "It was just chilling in the staff room." Seeing his classmates gaping at him, Karma grins. "You want some, Nagisa-chan?" He calls.

"I don't like strawberry, Karma," Nagisa reminds him.

"Riiiiigggghhhhttttt," Karma drawls before returning his attention to Korosensei. "Sorry, sensei."

"Sorry won't cut it!" Korosensei exclaims. "I took pains to fly through the freezing stratosphere just to keep it from melting, too!"

"Oh? That so?" Karma's smile widens. "Well, whaddaya going to do about it?" He licks it again. _Man, gelato is the best..._ "Hit me?"

"Certainly not!" Korosensei turns red in the face. "I'll simply have what's next!"

Karma almost gives away his plan as Korosensei marches (well, slinks, more like it, because of his tentacles) down the gap between desks toward his table. Instead, he waves the ice cream at Nagisa. "You sure you don't want any? It's about to go to waste," He sighs, considering not going through with his plan at all. Gelato is just _too_ good. Seriously. Mother and Father had _better_ get him some.

"Karma," Nagisa sighs.

"That a no?" He licks it again.

"Come now, hand it ov-" Korosensei yells angrily.

 _Pop. Pop._

Korosensei looks down, and in that second, Karma aims the gun at him.

"Anti-sensei bullets," Korosensei intones, dodging while backing away as Karma shoots thrice at him.

Chuckling, Karma stands "Gotcha again!" He crows. Walking up the walkway between desks, Karma points the gun at Korosensei. He doesn't shoot. The octopus would dodge it, anyway. "I'll keep using the same old tricks, _Korosensei,_ " Karma pokes Korosensei in the center of his tie with his gun. "I don't _care_ if it disrupts class," He says offhandedly. "If you don't like that," He moves his gun away. "Feel free to kill me or anyone here. You can even just slap me. But the second you do," Karma almost groans as he wastes the amazing gelato, smearing it into Korosensei's robes. "No one will see you as a teacher again," he whispers, dropping the cone onto his's tentacles. "You'll just be a murderous monster. Your identity as a teacher will be killed," He pulls back a bit so that Korosensei can see his dead-serious eyes. "By me."

Then, Karma brushes past him, tossing his test paper, it had been so freaking easy, to Korosensei. "Here's my paper. Probably got 'em all right," he pulls open the sliding door, only poking his head back through. "Seeya, sensei. Let's play some more tomorrow!"

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Korosensei sighs as he soars in the sky.

"Now he's made me go buy some more gelato," He laments, before pulling out a clipboard, worksheets and a red pen. After marking Karma's paper - all correct - he sighs. "He's right that I can't kill or hurt him. I wish I were still a human..." The face of a woman comes to him, and he shakes himself out of his memories. " Now, what shall I do with this Akabane Karma-kun..."

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"Bye, Kayano! Bye, Sugino!" Holding up her hand in a sort of wave, Nagisa watches as her friends walk away after shouting farewell. Since Nagisa takes the train home and the other two don't, they usually drop her off outside Kunugigaoka Station first.

"Oh, look, it's Nagisa," Nagisa's hand freezes mid-wave when she recognises that voice. It's Tanaka Nobuda, a plump boy with numerous pimples on his chubby face. He had been in Nagisa and Karma's class the year before. "She's probably feeling _right_ at home in the End Class."

"What a lamer! She'll never make it out of there unless she shapes up," Another voice adds. Takada Chousuke, her other ex-classmate, who's skinny and has thick glasses and a long nose. Nagisa regrets telling her whole ex-class to just call her by her first name. "Not that she ever will. Did you see her marks?"

"Plus, now that Akabane is out from suspension, he's there too!" Tanaka laughs evilly. "How _happy_ he must be to see the same loser who put him in the End Class. Probably will rearrange her face, huh?" Tears begin to well up in Nagisa's eyes and she bites her lip.

"That's the pits," Takada agrees. "I would rather die than end up there! Little Nagisa is probably afraid cause she has Akabane, the delinquent she sabotaged in the same class as her!"

She reacts.

Nagisa doesn't want to, but she covers her face with her hands, physically placing pressure on her eyes in the hope that she will keep from crying. Memories swarm her brain.

 _'Nagisa! You ok?' Pale golden eyes stares at her in worry. Nagisa blinked cluelessly at the person in front of her, swaying slightly._

 _'I...Karma...' Karma grabbed her arms, steadying her. 'You shouldn't have done that...'_

 _'Don't be stupid.' Nagisa's hands reached out and she touched Karma's face. It's red. There was blood all over him._

 _'Did you_ kill _them?'_

 _'No. Nagisa, you're bleeding.'_

 _'Good, I was worried you killed them, they're...from the A Class...you shouldn't have done that, you know? I'm going to the E Class next year, Karma. You shouldn't associate yourself with me...' Nagisa tried to rub the blood off Karma's cheek with her fingers. When that didn't work, she sighed softly and went limp in his hold. 'You'll get in trouble.'_

 _'Don't give a shit,' Karma helped her to sit down, propping her up against the wall. She watched tiredly as he searched over her body, fingers ghosting over bruises and cuts. 'Those...they shouldn't treat people like shit just because they're in the E Class!"_

 _'Karma...'_

 _'Come on, let's get you home.'_

 _'Karma...they were beating up a guy from the 3E at the back of school. I was around there, that's why they sent a few people to scare me and shut me up.'_

 _'_ _Those little...wait here, ok?'_

 _'Don't get in trouble.'_

 _'It's fine. Ono-sensei will cover for me. He always does.' Karma's voice had confidence in it, but Nagisa didn't say anything. Ono-sensei did like the smarter kids better, after all. As compared to under-average students, like her._

 _'Karma...' She touched his wrist as he stood. 'I...just...don't get caught.'_

 _'Yeah.'_

A loud shattering sound, accompanies with two girly screams, jerks Nagisa out of her painful memories. Nagisa looks up from her hands and sees Tanaka and Takada rooted to the spot with dumbfounded expressions on their faces.

"Eh?" Karma, who's standing near them, smirks. In his hands is a broken bottle of juice, and Nagisa immediately guesses that he had hit the spot just about their heads to scare them. "What's that? You would rather die?" Leaning forward, Karma shows a sinister smile, exposing one of his canines. "Then how about right now?" He points the jagged ends of the broken bottle at them.

"Akabane!" The two boys screech and run away as fast as they can.

"As if I would," Karma laughs, walking to Nagisa. "Who'd want another suspension after finding such a wonderful plaything?" His eyes narrow as he notices Nagisa's watery eyes. "Nagisa?"

"It's nothing," Taking the broken bottle from Karma, Nagisa scrubs at her eyes with her other hand.

"Really?" Karma asks skeptically. "Cause you're kinda crying. It's cute and all, but did they say something? Because then I'll really kill them, assassinating Korosensei be damned."

"Just the usual," Nagisa smiles up at Karma, blinking away a few stray tears. "Were you waiting for me?"

"Yep. You took longer than I expected, almost went looking for you, but then I saw you walking in with the baseball guy and the pudding girl," Karma takes Nagisa's bag and drapes it over his shoulder. And with that, the pair begins walking into the station, Karma's hand wrapped around Nagisa's small one.

"Sugino and Kayano, you mean," Nagisa throws the broken bottle into the glass recycling bin as they past it.

"Yeah. Anyway, can I ask you something, Nagisa?" Karma releases her hand to tap his card into those scanner machines to enter the station. Following suit, Nagisa's hand is soon reclaimed by Karma's.

"Y-Yeah."

"Three questions. First, I understand that you know some stuff about Korosensei, right?"

"Kinda, I guess," Nagisa shrugs.

"Does he get mad when you call him an octopus?"

Nagisa considers this, thinking about Korosensei's behaviour. "Well," She says slowly. "I think it's the opposite. I mean, he draws himself as an octopus, chooses the octopus character in games, and the other day, when he was digging around in the sandbox...well, he called it an octopus trap. The joke got an ok reception...no one really got it except Takebayashi and Fuwa. So if he's making jokes like that, I would say that it's like his trademark."

"That so?"

"Does that count as your third question?"

"No. But a really nasty idea just crossed my mind," Karma taps his chin.

"What are you up to _now_ , Karma?" Nagisa asks.

"Ah, nothing. I'm just happy, that's all," Karma turns to face her. "I was wondering what I'd do if he were just some monster, but he's an actual teacher." Nagisa doesn't think she likes his tone. The train arrives just then, blasting past Karma at an extreme speed, causing a giant wind to ruffle his clothes. "So I actually get to kill a real teacher! You know, after the other one uped and died on me."

"Karma..." Nagisa drops her eyes to their joined hands. Ono-sensei, their old homeroom teacher, is still a sore subject for Karma. Nagisa can still recall the broken desk and furious expression on Karma's face. Ono-sensei had been terrified then, falling over himself to back away from the redhead. With a small sigh, Nagisa tiptoes a bit and kisses Karma on the cheek. She doesn't like it when Karma has that demonic look in his eyes.

"Hmm? What was that for?" The train doors open with a hiss, and Karma leads her inside. His eyes are back to normal.

"I'm sorry," Nagisa whispers. "It's my fault."

"Geez, Nagisa, I told you," Karma set a hand on Nagisa's head, stooping to look her in the eyes. "I found a wonderful plaything in the E Class, plus you're there. Don't be sorry."

"But if I hadn't been there-"

Karma kisses her. Just once. On the corner of her mouth, not even the lips, but Nagisa's cheeks flush bright red all the same.

"Don't worry, jeez. If you hadn't been there, Ono-sensei might not be breathing anymore."

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"What was the third question you wanted to ask me, Karma?"

"Oh, right, the third question. More like there are two more, actually," Karma leads her over to two seats, next to each other, and pulls her down next to him. "First question, we _are_ dating, right?"

"Yes, Karma, we _are_ dating. That's a little bit of a ridiculous question to ask. Do you think I call all my friends at night to say goodnight? Do you think I kiss all my friends on the cheek, or hold their hands? Or do..." Nagisa leans up, turning Karma's face to hers and she gives him a chaste kiss. "This?" She finishes.

Karma laughs. "Just checking. Are we going to hide the fact that we're dating from our new class? I'm asking cause you're so randomly shy about weird things."

Nagisa considers his words.

"Yeah. Sorry is that OK with you? We'll tell them eventually, but, I don't think-"

"Fine by me, I mean, hey, I would rather broadcast that we're going out so that no one tries to steal you, but if that's what you want..."

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"Good morning!" The door slides open the next day, and Korosensei stoops to enter the classroom.

He immediately notices several things that are wrong.

None of the class respond, in fact, no one is even looking at him. Everyone has averted their eyes from the front of the class.

"What's the matter, class-" Korosensei starts as he notices the octopus on his table.

A literal _literal_ octopus, with a skewer stabbed right between it's eyes.

"Whoops!" A voice says cheerfully from the back of class. "My bad! I killed that creature thinking it was you, bring it here. I'll dispose of it."

 _Akabane Karma-kun_ , Korosensei sighs mentally. _Should have guessed. Now, to put my plan into action..._

"All right."

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Under his desk, Karma plays with an anti-sensei knife. _Bring it on sensei,_ he narrows his golden eyes. _I don't need to kill your body yet, I'll start by slowly chipping away at your soul,_ a sadistic smile blooms on his face as Korosensei picks up the dead octopus and starts towards him.

Then suddenly, the ends of Korosensei's tentacles transform into drills, and Karma starts slightly. What's going on...? The image of Korosensei flickers, before he reappears with a paper bag and a giant rocket shaped thing in his hands...wait what.

"Korosensei!" Pudding girl...Kayano(?) exclaims, startling everyone. "That's a-"

"Karma, that's a missile," Chiba tells him.

Karma's eyes grow wide. _Fu..._ _this was_ _inconvenient_.

"Now, Karma-kun, let me show you the power of my drill tentacles and the flame of the missile I flinched from the Special defence services of Japan." Korosensei's eyes gleam in his shadowed face. "I'm not about to let my assassin get away scot free!" The drill tentacles are moving, whipping around at Mach 20. The missile spits fire, and Karma almost swears that he sees a mixing bowl and...is that lettuce? Chicken? Wait, are those the tentacles of the octopus?!

Suddenly, something hot burns a hole in the roof of his mouth. Karma spits it out instinctively, bringing his hand up to nurse his burning mouth.

"I could tell by your pallor that you hadn't eaten breakfast," Korosensei holds a plate of takoyaki, smiling demurely. _When did that...?!_ Karma wracks his brain, thinking about that morning. He had woken up later than he had wanted, rushing out of the house to pick up Nagisa and arrive to class early to put the octopus...Oh god, Korosensei was right. "So I whipped up a batch of takoyaki at Mach speed! With these, you'll be well on your way to being nice and healthy!" Korsensei picks up a piece of takoyaki with his drill tentacles, holding it towards Karma. "Open wide!" No way. Karma keeps his hand over his mouth. Behind Korosensei, he sees that the people sitting close to him are standing, inching away from Korosensei. Chiba, Hazama, Muramatsu and Yoshida are all watching Korosensei worriedly, as though he may target them next. "My job is to tend to things, things like rusty assassin's blades," Korosensei tuts, opening up his mouth. A wave of the sweet scent of takoyaki fills Karma's nostrils and he almost gags, choosing instead to _not look_ at the takoyaki lining Korosensei's teeth. That's just...disturbing. Cannibal-freaking-lism. "So keep trying to kill me." Korosensei sets the plate down. "And I'll keep taking care of you."

Lifting his tentacles dramatically, Korosensei smirks. "By the end of the day, your body and mind will be polished until sparkling. Nurufufufufu-NYUYA!" He flickers somewhere behind his original position, dodging a green blade.

"Ah, I missed," Hazama comments idly, reclaiming her seat.

"HAZAMA-SAN! You stole my spotlight!"

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 _First period: Math._

As Korosensei runs through how to divide remaining numbers, Karma reaches for his gun. Pulling it out as silently as he can, he clicks off the safety and lifts it, aiming and pulling the trig-

"Oh, you were a bit slow on the draw there, Karma-kun," Korosensei holds up a gun, tossing it aside. Karma jumps, noticing his hands are empty of the weapon. "I used the extra time to give you a little nail art!" He holds up several art supplies, including some nail ones.

Karma's eye twitches as he looks down at his now brown and yellow nails, topped with takoyaki and octopus stickers.

As soon as class ends, Karma drags Nagisa to the small room that passes for an infirmary. "Can you get it off?"

Nagisa nods. Seeming to have expected this, she has a bottle of some kind of colourless solution and cotton buds in her hands. "Sit down," Nagisa instructs him, soaking the cotton buds in the colourless solution...that smells fuc-shitting terrible. "You know, you could have scraped them off with something sharp when they were still wet," Nagisa comments, taking his hand. "Now that it's hardened, it'll be very hard to take off."

"You could've mentioned earlier," Karma groans as Nagisa begins rubbing off the nail polish. She applies enough pressure so that it goes off, but is gentle enough that it doesn't hurt that much, although it smells freaking horrid. Idly, Karma wonders if Nagisa is such an expect at nail polish removing because of that woman...sensing his blood beginning to boil, Karma banishes all thoughts of the woman from his head. If Nagisa felt his rage, she might feel that it was directed at her. After a while, Karma's nails start to look like nails again.

"Thanks, Nagisa," Karma kisses her forehead. "I owe you."

"You can't eat anything with your hands, because of the chemicals in the solution, you'll have to be careful what you do. Also, try to wash your hands under really strong soap as much as you can...oh, and-" Nagisa's brows furrow as she scrapes at the stickers, seemingly not noticing his forehead-kiss. "I don't think these will come off." Applying more pressure, Nagisa digs her nails under the stickers to try and crowbar them up, but they stay stubbornly stuck to Karma's nails.

"Ugh."

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 _Fourth Period: Home Economics_

The class is making soup for home ec.

Having already finished his stew-soup (It was just vegetables and meat boiled together with lots of salt and maybe some spices, not to mention, lotus fruit for flavouring, so how hard could it be? Karma had completed his in the first ten minutes and asked Nagisa to man it for him), Karma's watching Korosensei, looking for an opening for an assassination.

"Well? How is it, Fuwa-san?" Korosensei asks.

"I dunno. It has this sharp tang to it," Fuwa says doubtfully.

"Let me try," Korosensei tastes the sup. Karma walks towards them, a plan already formulating in his head.

"Why don't you start over?" His tone is innocent enough. Karma's hand tightens around a knife in his pocket. "Just throw it out and..." He grabs the handle of Fuwa's soup pot, flinging it up in the air. Using the falling liquid as a diversion, Karma swings his knife at Korosensei and -

"You forgot your apron, Karma-kun," Korosensei chides. Karma starts, looking down and seeing the frilly pink apron Korosensei had put on him, a bright red heart blinking up at him. Karma swallows thickly. From the corner of his eye, he can see Nagisa smiling in a way that her lips are pressed together. It's obvious that she's trying not to laugh. "And do not worry about the soup. I gathered it up mid air with an eye dropper. Also, I added some sugar!" Korosensei holds out a pot to Fuwa, who tastes it's contents.

"It's much milder now!" Fuwa chirps.

"Aww, how cute!" Karma hears Terasaka and friends snort-laughing in the corner. Scowling, he rips off the red kerchief on his head, feeling his cheeks redden.

 _Karma...it's no use..._ Nagisa watches him with worried eyes.

(Also, she's a little bit amused, but no one needs to tell him that)

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 _Fifth period: Japanese_

"'It was an ideal spot for the red frog,'" Korosensei reads, walking around the classroom. "'Why didn't it cross there?'"

 _Korosensei has tons of weaknesses, and he slips up a lot and when he's flustered, his reaction time drops to that of a human's..._ Nagisa sees Karma place his hand in his pocket, clearly annoyed.

 _But no matter how good Karma is at surprise attacks..._ A tentacle presses against Karma's forehead. Nagisa sighs to herself as she sees Karma's wide eyes. Did he think it would work?

"...'The red frog, having failed again, was making its way back.'" Korosensei's eyes glint and he begins to play with Karma's hair, combing it out and spraying it with some solution that made it glossy. "'I was getting bored with it." Nagisa returns her attention to the front of class, even as Okajima, Chiba, Terasaka and a girl with thick braids and thicker glasses, Okuda Manami, continue to watch the spectacle.

 _Especially when Korosensei is on high alert, the assassination is like one of your impossible video games, Karma._

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Karma nibbles on his thumbnail - a bad habit of his he does when stressed - as he thinks, agitated. He mentally curses the octopus, trying to come up with new plans. Perching on a tree overhanging a four kilometer drop (Two mile), Karma _probably_ isn't in the best state of mind to be hanging over a fatal drop. Still, it's not like he's idiot enough to fall off.

"Karma," A voice calls. Karma relaxes when he hears Nagisa's voice, gentle and mild as always. "You don't have to think so much." He turns to look at her, watching as she makes her way onto the tree. After a bit of watching Nagisa struggle, Karma stands and helps her walk across the tree to where he is. They both sit, and Nagisa takes his hand, intertwining their fingers. "We can do it together. As of now, it's like one of your impossible video games, once the boss has his eye on you, it's nearly impossible for you to kill him on your own."

"Your video game analogies are terrible."

"You can't blame me for that, I don't play them. Mother doesn't..." Nagisa trails off awkwardly, then smiles and leans her head on Karma's shoulder. "Well, that is to say, the class is just behind you, if you want to join us. Korosensei isn't like other teachers. He really _really_ care about us."

"Not like other teachers," Karma murmurs. "Huh..." His hands go to Nagisa's head, playing with her twintails.

 _'You're in the right, Akabane!' A hand claps him on the back. Ono-sensei, a man shorter than he, smiles brightly, a nice change from the fearful, hateful, angry looks of the other adults. "Though you are somewhat combative, and you have your share of behavioural issues...As long as you're in the right, I'll be on your side!" Ono-sensei stops and grins at Karma, who smiles back._

"Yeah, no," Karma scoffs. Nagisa lifts her head off his shoulder, turning to look at him curiously. " _I_ want to do it. _I_ want to kill him. Nothing will tick me off more than him dying in some random way."

"Karma..." Nagisa sighs.

"Karma-kun," A familiar voice calls from somewhere on the mountain. Nagisa jumps away from Karma, nearly falling off the tree as she jerks her hand out of his. Karma grabs her arm hurriedly, steadying her.

"You OK?" Karma murmurs. Nagisa nods, hopping off the tree onto solid ground.

"I've certainly taken really good care of you today, haven't I?" Korosensei gloats. Looks like he hadn't seen their joined hands, clearly too busy smiling that smug smile...wait, is that what people feel about _his_ smile? Green stripes flash across Korosensei's face. He's clearly looking down on Karma. "You can try to kill me again, you know, I'll just polish you up even shinier." He rubs his two tentacle-fingers together.

Karma considers his words, thinking about what the teacher had said earlier. _My job is to tend to things_..."Just to check," Karma smiles, an idea beginning to bloom in his head. "You _are_ a teacher, right?" _He really does care about us..._ Nagisa had said.

"Most certainly," Korosensei responds.

"And you would," Karma sets his hand on his gun. "Sacrifice your life to save one of your students?"

"Of course! I'm their teacher, after all," He says with confidence.

"Good," Karma stands. "Then I can kill you, for sure."

"Karma!" Nagisa rushes forward, seeming to have read his mind. "Karma, no!"

Karma points the gun in front of him and throws himself off the mountain.

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"KARMA!" Nagisa runs to the edge of the mountain, peering over. Karma is already about a quarter ways down, a confident smile on his face. "Korosensei, we have to do-" Nagisa turns and finds the octopus teacher already gone.

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 _So, what'll it be? If you come to help, I'll shoot you before you can save me. If just you let me die, no one will think of you as a teacher again!_

Karma's smile is wider than it's ever been, completely caught up in his plan. _Oh man, it's all coming back to me..._

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 _'Karma-kun...Hello, nice to meet you, I'm Shiota, Shiota Nagisa. You can just call me Nagisa.' Karma stared at the small blue haired girl in front of him. 'I think our teacher paired us up cause we both hair colourful hair, don't you think?'_

 _'Are you trying for Kunugigaoka too? I'm trying to get in. My mother would be very happy if I did.' Nagisa leaned over his middle school application, smiling at him. 'Don't you think it would be great if we both made it?'_

 _'Nagisa! Nagisa! Are you alright?' Karma f_ _rantically rushed to support the petite girl, who was swaying to and fro rather dangerously._

 _'They were beating up a guy at the back of school...'_

 _'Wait here ok?' Karma sets Nagisa down, her back supported by the wall._

 _"It's fine. Ono-sensei will cover for me.'_

 _'Are you alright, Sempai?' Bashing the face of the bully into the wall, watching as blood spurted from his nose. Karma turned, looking at the bully victim._

 _'Eh? 3E? You mean_ that _3E? It must suck to have your fate decided in such a way...' helping the bully victim up, sending him on his way before going to check on Nagisa..._

 _'Huh? I'm in the right here, don't worry, Nagisa. What's wrong with saving two bullied students? Let's go home.'_

 ** _NO AKABANE. NO MATTER HOW YOU LOOK AT IT, YOU'RE IN THE WRONG._**

 _Ono-sensei sat in front of him, and livid expression on his face. He was agitated, drumming his fingers on the table._

 _Huh?_

 _He reached forward, about to explain himself. Nagisa, her head ducked next to him, flinched when she heard the teacher's next few words._

 ** _HAVE YOU LOST IT? Injuring the best student in year 3..._**

 _'Huh? No wait, sensei...'_

 _Nagisa took Karma's hand, squeezing it. Behind the teachers desk, a older student stood, a bitter, yet frightened, expression on his face, his head wrapped in bandages, his arm in a cast and a crutcher under his arm._

 ** _You sided with the E Class and hurt someone who had a bright future. If this affects his exams, it'll be on my head._**

 _So much for being on my side._

 _Karma's eyes narrowed. The teacher in front of him seemed to be flaking, bits of his skin falling out._

 ** _That Shiota girl...well, she's an E Student as well. Isn't that great? I'm sure she'll be pleased to find out that her saviour will be in the same class as her again. She shouldn't have interfered with the punishment._  
**

 _Nagisa swallowed thickly, and Karma's scowl deepened. He had already seen the bruises decorating her face and arms, a obvious result from_ interfering.

 _'Sensei...please don't send Karma down,' Nagisa whispered, lifting her head. Although her words were soft, her gaze was determined. 'I'll take his punishment.'_

 ** _Do you fancy yourself a martyr? No, you stupid girl!_**

 _Nagisa didn't make a sound as Ono-sensei backhanded her across the face, before slapping her hard. The sound of the double slap echoes in the small room. Karma sucked in a breath, growling. Teachers weren't allowed to hurt students, but look at Ono-sensei..._

 _Crap, he's dying, Karma realised as more and more flakes fell off Ono-sensei's face. He could see his bone underneath._

 ** _Your grades are the only thing right about you...something you don't even have, girl!_**

 _This time, the so-called injured student leans forward and hits Nagisa._

 ** _They're the only reason why I've ever stood up for you._**

 _'You ok, Nagisa?' Karma whispered, not daring to turn his back on the teacher. That would be seen as fear. Instead, Karma meets Ono-sensei's gaze with an equally hard expression._

 ** _But once you start hurting my career, that's it._**

 _Karma looked down at Nagisa, who didn't respond. Her lips were pressed tightly together, her eyes watering as she cradled her arm to her body._

 _Once I start hurting your career, huh.._ _.Karma took a step forward. Well, this dying man had hurt Nagisa._

 ** _I've already filed the class change notice._**

 _Ono-sensei's skin almost disappears completely, giving Karma a look at his skull._

 _In his eyes, this teacher is dying, Karma realised._

 ** _Congratulations, Akabane._**

 ** _Next year, you'll be starting your year in the E Class._**

 _He had let Karma down._

 _Everything went black._

 _When Karma could see again, he saw Ono-sensei trembling on the floor, pupils dilated in fear. His desk was shattered, his chair embedded into the glass cabinet filled with_ glass _trophies behind_ _him._

 _Karma grabbed Nagisa's uninjured arm, guiding her to her feet._

 _He's dead to me, Karma thought, shooting one last glare at Ono-sensei._

 _'Let's go,' Karma walked out of the door._

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 _Korosensei!_ A maniacal grin spreads on Karma's face. _I'll kill you with my own two hands, now, which death do you choose?_

Then Karma thinks he saw something yellow, trailing in the sky. Out of instinct, he shoots, then suddenly feels himself sinking into something stretchy, like a net.

 _Huh?_

The net like thing bounces up and down a few times before stilling, and Karma thinks to lift his head to look at the-

His head won't move.

"Karma-kun?" A voice asks. Karma tries to see the owner of it, somewhere below him, but can't. "Splendid job on the premeditated assassination starring yourself. If I had moved at Mach speed to save you, your body wouldn't have been able to take it, but if I had been slower, I would have been shot by you. So I thought I'd try a stickier approach." Korosensei's head pops up to his left, smug as normal.

"Damn," Karma struggles against it, only to remain steadfastly stuck. "What _can't_ these tentacles do?"

"You can't shoot me now," Korosensei jeers, popping up within hitting distance of Karma.

"Oh, and for the record, letting you die is not an option for me. Feel free to take a leap of faith any time you want," Korosensei tells him, voice matter-of-fact.

Karma stares at Korosensei's sincere face before lying back, staring straight at the sky.

 _Damn...it's no use...he won't die, no matter what I do...you were right, Nagisa._

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

Nagisa paces the mountain top back and forth, waiting.

 _Please don't have died, Karma..._ She bites her lip, immediately banishing the horrid thought from her mind. A world of hers without Karma will be terrible. He has been a fixture in her life for a long time, since early elementary school...No, no. He's not gone...

Then suddenly, a giant yellow blob appears in her peripheral vision.

"Karma!" Nagisa calls, whirling around and heading towards Korosensei, who had flown up from the bottom of the mountain. Karma moves away from the teacher, a genuine smile on his face. His first in front of other people in a while.

"Sorry, Nagisa, did I make you worry?" He asks cheekily.

"Well..."

"it's not a big deal. Korosensei caught me with a sticky net. Kinda gross, honestly," Karma describes to her the feeling of falling, before shrugging. "Honestly, though? I don't see why people want to fly so bad."

"Nyuuya! Stop subtly dissing me, Karma-kun!"

Nagisa moves to the edge of the cliff, peering over. "That was a lot crazier than how you described it," She says, forcing herself to calm down. _Karma is safe, he's fine, he's safe, stop worrying..._

"Eh, no biggie. I figured that it was my best chance of killing him," Karma replies.

"Nurufufufufu," Korosensei sniggers. "Out of ideas already? But i have so many ways to pamper you in retaliation," Korosensei holds up an assortment of products, ranging from facial masks to...are those kitty ears? Nagisa moves away from the edge of the mountain, trying to look over it. "You're kind of a pushover yourself, aren't you?"

Feeling Karma's murderous intent, Nagisa waits for the assassination attempt.

But then...

Karma faces Korosensei, and although Nagisa can't see him, she knows he's smiling. One of his real ones, and not a fake one. "Oh, I'll kill you," Karma promises. "Maybe even tomorrow."

A scarlet 'O' flashes on Korosensei's face. "Ah, healthy, refreshing bloodlust. I can see you no longer need any TLC."

Karma sighs and walks past Korosensei, Nagisa following soon after.

"Come one, Nagisa, let's stop for some food on our way back," Karma calls to her over his shoulder, casually throwing a purse into the air and then catching it.

"Sushi?" Nagisa asks, running to catch up with Karma.

"Well, if you want."

"NYUUYA! That's my purse!" Korosensei shrieks.

"And who left it in the staff room unattended?" Karma stops walking, turning to look at their teacher.

"G-Give it back!"

"If you say so," Karma flings it at Korosensei.

Korosensei opens up the purse and Nagisa waits to see what Karma has done. "But...this is empty!"

"There wasn't much in the first place," Karma says flippantly. "Consider it a donation. Come on, Nagisa. Sushi awaits."

Korosensei looks as though he may melt. "You hypocritical delinquent!" He screeches, beginning to lecture Karma.

Nagisa smiles as she watches them. In their assassination classroom, assassins who go in for the kill wind up sparkling clean in their target's grasp. That's the kind of environment they are in. Rushing to calm Korosensei down, Nagisa nearly trips over her feet. _I wonder how we'll try to kill him tomorrow..._

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

 **REVIEWS REPLIES (Chapter 2):**

 _ **Gingerhale:** You want more Karma? *Serches for hat* HERE! *pulls chapter from hat* Hope you enjoyed! (Or at least didn't die...I'm angsting out over this chapter a lot XD_

 ** _Konan248:_** _*Whispers* Yes, they are already a couple :D I didn't quite know how to reveal it (Originally, it wasn't going to come out until chapter/episode 8 which is the Kyoto arc) So I just wung it here! Wait till they do like, team assassinations...omg my inner fangirl is going nuts!_

 ** _TamashinaSuzume:_** _and you needn't wait any longer! Hope you enjoyed!_

 ** _Amaya Kuruta:_** _Firstly: OMG I LOVE YOUR PROFILE PIC XD Secondly: Yeah, I guess Okano would have been more fitting for the acrobatics, but Chiba and Hayami made sense to me while I was writing it. Cause Chiba is good at spatial calculations, right? And Hayami's sensei of balance is excellent, so yeah. I actually had a version where Okano did it too, but it was less climatic, so I scrapped it._

 ** _Yhanrah Shinade:_** _Thank you! I'll do my best to update regularly!_

 ** _Princess630:_** _Thank you! I hope this gave you enough Karma x Nagisa!_

 ** _LucidClockwork:_** _Aww, thanks! I'm really glad you like it! XD_

 ** _Shiranai Atsune:_** _Hee hee, actually it's because Karma made the pudding for her (though he put in some powdered roaches, just because) The poem? it's for later, haha XD_

 ** _Frwt:_** _Tadaaa! Updated!_

 ** _Yuzuhara-san:_** _Thank you!_

 ** _Guest:_** _Aww, really? thank you so much! Nagisa as an assassin, huh..._

 _That's so far away though, so I'll banish that thought for now..._

 _(For now only)_

 _Aww thank you! I'm really just word vomitting everything. Since it's a story retelling, I figured I must update twice a week. I'm glad that the long chapters didn't turn you away. Actually, I was worried that I made everything too long (Case in point: This chapter. 10000+ words) and thank you so much! Here's an update XD_

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 **Thank you anyone who's actually reading this, because wow, I was super worried about my long as anything chapters :O (I hope I didn't disappoint you with this chapter, seriously I'm just majorly angsting out over it)**

 **Anyway:**

 **I.**

 **Did.**

 **It.**

 _ **FINALLY!**_

 **After retyping like everything twice cause my computer KEPT OFFING BEFORE I COULD SAVE**

 **(Sorry. _Still_ salty)**

 **Ok, I'm dead...see you next time...**

 ***climbs into hole***

 ***Pulls in blankets, wifi, food, computer, charger, phone***

 ***Covers hole***


	4. Chapter 4

**Well...**

 **I AM OUT OF MY HOLE! *bursts out of the hole* *Blankets and food and videogames pops out as well***

 **AND I BRING YOU CHAPTER FOUR!**

 **Though:**

 **Some strange things in this chapter. yay.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own assassination classroom! Though, I am a proud owner of a copy of the character book...that is sadly in traditional Chinese...**

 **(๑′̥̥̥▵‵̥̥̥ ૂ๑)**

 **[Can you see that Kamoji? Cause it's really cute.]**

 **Warnings: Language, obviously. (Uh...it is Irina's introduction...) Some deep stuff? (Sorry, couldn't resist) Not much Karmagisa fluff. (Sorry!) A little talking about...female chest stuff. Teeny bit of Nagisa's mom in her memories.**

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 _Chapter Four:_

 _May we welcome Irina Jela-Bitch-sensei!_

 **OR**

 _Grown-up time!_

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"It's already May, huh," Nagisa mumbles to herself as she changes the date on the board.

"Yeah!" Kayano somehow hears her, moving over to peer over her shoulder. "Time sure flew fast, huh?"

"Whoa, it's May _already?!_ It'll be summer pretty soon, then!" Karma appears from nowhere, slinging an arm around Nagisa.

"Not really, no," Nagisa shakes her head. "Not _that_ soon, Karma."

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"Now, allow me to introduce your new English teacher," Karmasuma narrates blandly.

The whole of class E has varying expressions, some of them disbelief, some of extreme shock, some students are sweating and trying _not_ to stare at the front of the class while others are just taking in the sight in front of them. A few students even look bored.

Korosensei is at the front of the class, in his human guise, a large man with a shaggy mop of grey hair, peach skin, and a large nose.

However, there is a blonde lady with voluminous breasts (Can that word be used, in this context?), that are practically falling out of her shirt, clinging onto his tentacle arm, not paying the slightest mind to the student's strange glances as she beams at them. In a tiny white pencil skirt and a white jacket, it's clear that she had been aiming for the professional look when she had gotten dressed that morning. However, since it's nearing summer, her jacket isn't buttoned anywhere except the two buttons below her breasts, making them pop out even more. Her black inner shirt, obviously way too small, isn't helping either. The fact that her gorgeous figure is also coupled with a beautiful face, cheekbones, long, sweeping eyelashes framing large, blue-green eyes, flowing, wavy, blonde hair, a brilliant smile...well, it's no wonder the students are amazed.

"My name is Irina Jelavic! It's wonderful to meet you all!" She greets happily, her voice high and light.

The general reaction of the males in the class can be seen below.

"What a woman!" Maehara whistles under his breath.

"What giant knockers!" Okajima hisses, watching the lady as she moves around, her breasts bouncing just as much.

"Wait," Sugino stares at the way the lady is gripping Korosensei's arm. "Why is she all over him?"

And most of the female students are clearly thinking one thing:

 _"Why is she all over Korosensei?"_

And

 _"I hate her already."_

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"Who would have thought you were a teacher here?" The blonde lady babbles.

Nagisa watches the blonde lady...Irina. There's a certain light in her blue-green eyes that is interesting. Having met many people who conceal their true emotions, Nagisa has picked up the habit of searching for hints of people's true emotions. From the way Irina is speaking, Nagisa guesses that she, while intrigued by the yellow octopus of a teacher, is lying about everything to Korosensei's face at the same time.

"I'm wearing a wig," Korosensei says, removing the uneven grey mop of hair from his head and pulling off the fake nose, reverting to his ordinary colour.

"Oh, I don't mind!" There's a hard glint in her eyes for a second and Nagisa realises that this lady is splintering apart, even as she stands in the front of the class. A second later, however, the glint is replaced by a soft, gooey stare...the kind of stare Nagisa sometimes feels herself get around Karma. It's interesting to watch, since Irina is very good at faking her feelings. If Nagisa hadn't seen the hard glint, she will have thought that the blonde lady is sincere.

"One of our school's goals is to give you an authentic experience in foreign languages," Karmasuma explains. "I trust there will be no complaints about her taking over half your lessons?"

Irina lets out a flirty giggle, and Korosensei replies, almost sounding wistful. "Well, if you insist."

When Nagisa turns to speak with Kayano, she thinks that there's something murderous in Kayano's hazel eyes. But Kayano turns and smiles awkwardly at her, and Nagisa is sure she's mistaken.

"We've got ourselves quite a teacher, huh?" Nagisa can sense the overly light tone in Kayano's voice, and guesses that she's trying to put it in the nicest way she can. "What's more," Kayano replies, this time in a tone that implies disbelief. "She seems to have a thing for Korosensei."

"She does, doesn't she?" Nagisa blinks, realising that Kayano is right. Since Korosensei is some kind of alien octopus, won't he be confused about how to react with a human woman all over him? "But I might get more hints of an assassination from this..." Nagisa pulls out her notepad, flipping to an empty page. "My guess is that Korosensei wouldn't know what to do with a beautiful human lady hanging all over him." Korosensei's face always has many different colours, after all, Nagisa narrows her eyes as Korosensei turns to look at Irina. What colour is 'bewilderment'?

Then Korosensei's face turns pink, practically glowing as he stares at Irina's breasts.

"Well, looks like he's alright with human women..." Kayano squirms in her seat.

"See, Nagisa?" Nakamura jabs Nagisa in the back. "All boys are perverts."

Nagisa turns to face the blonde girl. "Then what about Karasuma-sensei?"

"Please. Karasuma-sensei is a _man_ ," Okano interjects, turning around in her seat.

"Korosensei seems to be alright with that lady-sensei-thing! Maybe there'll be a teacher scandal?!" Nakamura gasps.

"Please!" Kayano hisses. "He's just seeing with his lust! Look! He's just gazing at her boobs!"

"Big boobs are just another valuable asset in life," Nakamura retorts, before sighing. "And I shouldn't have bothered, I'm surrounded by flat women..." She glances at Kayano, Nagisa and Okano.

"Hey!" Kayano exclaims.

"Well, it's not like I want...to be big _there_. Oh, I think I've learnt a new one of Korosensei's weaknesses," Nagisa writes something down.

 _Korosensei Weak Point 5: Boobs_

"You don't want to have big boobs?!" Kayano gasps. "But Nagisa-"

"Oh, the more I look at you, the more I like what I see," Irina half-swoons just then, her cheeks a convincing tomato red shade, a dreamy smile on her rose pink lips. "Your beady eyes, like two little diarrhea pills!" Diarrhea? Nagisa half-turns to catch Karma's eye, arching a brow. Well, she supposes that that's one way to flirt...in an awkward but endearing way. Karma tilts his head at her, seeming to ask her something. 'Have you noticed it yet?" He mouths. "Your strange, floppy, arms..." Irina wraps her arms around Korosensei. "My, you're positively captivating!"

Nagisa's jaw drops and she sees the disgusted expressions of her fellow female classmates.

"Don't fall for that, Korosensei!" Okano whispers.

"No female worth anything finds _that_ stuff attractive!" Nakamura adds.

As they say that, it all clicks in Nagisa's head.

She turns to look at Karma again, meeting his eyes and nodding. He smirks in response. While they are the E Class, she's sure that he too, as well as the rest of her class have realised that a teacher who would join them in such strange circumstances will be someone who has more to them than what meets the eye.

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"You _really_ don't want big boobs?" Kayano more or less tackles Nagisa as soon as homeroom is over. "Why not? Guys like girls better if they have big boobs _._ "

Nagisa shrugs aimlessly. "I've never really thought of it, I guess."

"At all? Are you kidding me?" Nakamura hangs on to Nagisa's other arm, looking just as shocked as Kayano. "Every girl wants big boobs!"

"But as I am now..." Nagisa trails off and then sighs. "Just, I don't want a big chest. As I am now, I can lie on my stomach properly and fit into most of my old clothes. It's not so bad."

"What...! Maehara!" Nakamura calls out to the class playboy. "Marhara, girls with big boobs are prettier, right?"

"Yeah," Maehara stares at them in confusion.

"What about Isogai? Would you rather have a girl with a big chest or a washboard?" Kayano asks.

"I don't mind either, it's her personality that matters. I won't turn down a girl just because she's flat," Isogai answers.

"Karma?" Nakamura whirls on the redhead. "What do _you_ think?"

Nagisa flushes. _Great. Nakamura had to ask him._

"Who knows," Karma shrugs, getting to his feet and hightailing out of the door. "Though small is better," Karma adds on his way out.

"What...?" Nakamura gapes after him. After patting the blonde girl on the shoulder sympathetically, Nagisa chases after Karma.

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"Karma what is it about the new teacher that bothers you?" Nagisa asks as the two walk to the courtyard. "I can't quite put my finger on it..."

"She's plastic," The redhead replies.

"Huh?"

"She's fake. You saw, right?" Karma shrugs. "She's got an ace up her sleeve, I bet you."

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"Hey! Pass!" Sugino aims the ball at Okano. "Hey! Kill!" He swings at Korosensei with his knife, only for the teacher to dodge, smirking.

"Hey, pass!" Okano kicks the football/soccer ball at Korosensei, adding a stab of the knife with it. "Hey, kill!" Korosensei appears next to Kayano, smirking.

"I had a lot of ways prepared to approach him," Irina Jelavic leans her elbows on the window of the classroom. "I never thought that seduction would work; I just performed it out of obligation." Pulling out a cigarette and lighting it, Irima takes a deep puff, blowing the smoke out of the window.

 _Irina Jelavic. A professional assassin. With her drop dead gorgeous looks and fluency in ten languages, she can bewitch targets from anywhere around the world, and kill even the most heavily guarded marks at point-blank range with ease...her finesse at infiltration and approach has raised her assassination to an art form._ Karasuma recalls what he had read from her file. But from Irina's tone, it's clear that she has no intention of becoming a fixed person in this classroom... "However, we cannot simply hire an assassin to work at a school," He reminds her, even as she tosses away her cigarette and begins to walk away. "You'll also have to do some teaching for appearances sake."

"I'm a _pro_ ," Irina scoffs, opening the door of the campus. "The job will be over before I have to resort to _that_ ," She tosses her hair just once, and Karsuma almost thinks he sees an infinite pool of sadness in her eyes, before an excited and cheerful expression replaces it. It's such a genuine expression that he's almost fooled as well.

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"Hey! Pass!" Karma kicks the ball at Nagisa, the blue-haired girl lurking behind Korosensei. "Hey...kill!" Karma shoots at Korosensei, who snickers and dodges, before yelping when he nearly runs into Nagisa's blade, held slightly to the right of him. Since he had jumped to the right to dodge at mach speed, he hadn't seen the blade and had therefore nearly gotten impaled.

Teamwork.

"STOP USING TEAMWORK, YOU TWO!" Korosensei screeches, sweating profusely. "IT'S SCARY!"

"Hey, pass!" Okano stops the ball with her foot before aiming it at Korosensei. "Hey, kill!" She tries to roundhouse kick him.

Korosensei snickers, catching the ball while dodging at the same time. "Hey, pass!" Korosensei is about to throw the ball when suddenly, a loud call is heard.

"Korosensei!" A chipper tone calls. Nagisa can practically sense the honey dripping from Irina's words as the blonde woman rushes down to the courtyard, a giant beam on her face. "Oh, _Korosensei_! Karasuma-san tells me that you're _oh_ -so- _very_ fast! Is that true?" Irina leans closer to Korosensei, batting her lashes. Nagisa sighs, moving over so she's next to Karma.

"I'm glad you were never like that," Karma makes a face at Nagisa. "I mean, whoa. That octopus needs a better taste in women."

"Well, Irina-sensei _is_ very pretty," Nagisa half-smiles, only to laugh when Karma shakes his head. "Are you denying it? I saw you looking at her, Karma." Nagisa teases.

"Don't be ridiculous," Karma scoffs. "I did say small is better. Besides, I was staring at her horrible _innards_." He says the last word in English, confusing Nagisa. "I have you, after all."

" ' _Innards_ '? What are those?"

"Well, I wouldn't say I'm that fast..." Korosensei is attempting to act modest, rubbing the back of his head with his tentacle, attracting Karma and Nagisa's attention.

"Could you do me a favour? I've always wanted to try some real vietnamese coffee..." As Irina speaks, Nagisa sees Korosensei's eyes drop down to her chest, and she exchanges looks with Kayano across the field, the two girls sighing. "Do you think you could bring me some while I'm teaching English?"

"Why of course," Korosensei turns completely pink. "I happen to know a great cafe in vietnam!" he announces before launching up into the air. Only because she's looking does Nagisa see a calculative expression on Irina's face. Korosensei leaves behind a giant gust of wind as he flies off.

The bell rings.

There's a pause as all the students exchange looks, clearly wondering if Irina was going to take over, as a teacher. A shadow had fallen on her face as soon as Korosensei left. A little fearful, Nagisa slides fully behind Karma, tangling her fingers into the back of his jacket.

"Here come her true colours," Karama murmurs.

"Uh..." Isogai seems to struggle with what to call her mentally. "Irina...sensei? Shall we go in? Class is beginning."

Irina clicks open a lighter, producing a cigarette from seemingly nowhere, which she lights and takes a deep puff off. The cheerful and bubbly personality evaporates within a second, being replaced by an stone statue of a woman. At least until she speaks. "Class? Oh," She keeps the lighter and moves the cigarette from her lips, turning to face the class properly. Her tone is cold and annoyed. "Just make it a study hall or something." Blowing out a ring of smoke, Irina moves her wavy hair away from her face, meeting each and every one of their eyes with a hard glare. "Also, could you _not_ call me by my first name? I won't be playing teacher unless that _octopus_ is around." The class only stares at her blankly, seeming to only just notice her facade. "So you shall refer to me as Jelavic-onee-sama."

There is a pause as her cold words sink in.

"So, what'cha going do, Bitch-nee-san?" Karma asks in his usual 'innocent tone'.

"It's 'Vic'!" Irina immediately whirls on him, practically foaming at the mouth.

Nagisa snorts quietly, containing her laughter, and feels Karma tap her wrist once, gently reminding her to be silent, without turning to face her. "You're an assassin, right? The whole class couldn't kill him when they were working together, but you're going to take him down on your own?" Nagisa giggles quietly. It's ridiculous, but the fear she had felt earlier melts into amusement instead.

"Still a child, I see. Grown-up's have their own grown-up way of doing things," Irina scoffs, a smirk balanced perfectly on her lips.

"What is she going to do, sleep with him?" Nakamura whisper-shouts to Fuwa. From the glare she's burning into Irina's back, it's clear that she meant for the older woman to hear.

"Nakamura!" Fuwa jostles the blonde girl with her elbow. "Watch your mouth..."

Ignoring them, Irina takes several steps towards Karma, until she's in front of him. Nagisa frantically tries to make herself smaller, for once she's glad of her petite frame. "You must be Akabane Karma." She observes.

"So what if I am?" Karma matches her stony glare with a self-confident smirk.

"Well, I don't see the small blue haired girl anywhere..." Irina glances around the courtyard before leaning down to Karma's eye level...a bit comical, since the redhead is barely shorter than her. "But apparently you two are close..." Nagisa's eyes widen and she feels a spark of fear. Why is this scary woman looking for her? She releases Karma's jacket, fingers trembling.

 _Nagisa! You useless child, where are you?! If I find where you're hiding, you're going to be in so. Much. Trouble. Trust me, I will..._

"Oh? Maybe we are, but I would have thought you had better things to do than research on some middle schoolers, Bitch-nee-san," Karma mocks. "Or maybe you're not as good as an assassin as you would have us-"

"Let's bait her out, shall we..." Irina interrupts, grabbing Karma by the shoulders and pulling him to her.

Nagisa's jaw drops.

Irina is _kissing_ Karma, who's struggling to push her away. From the way Irina's moving her lips, it looks like some kind of heated french kiss. OK, she's not letting this carry on. Karma looks like he might just pass out, from the way his knees are buckling.

Grabbing Karma's arm, Nagisa pulls on him with all her strength, so that they both go flying backwards, unfortunately with Karma landing on her. Karma's expression is something like the one he wore when Korosensei stuffed takoyaki in, only he's also blushing and gagging. Well, he's still in a better state than she is. Being sat on by a third-year junior high school boy who likes to eat isn't the best thing, after all. Although Karma is lean, well...he's heavier than he looks.

"There you are, little girl," Irina laughs, before faltering. "Wait, where is she?"

Stuck under Karma ( _Man, that boy is heavy!)_ , Nagisa is almost glad when someone lifts him up, even though her last wall of defence is completely gone. She's already out of breath, so it _really_ doesn't help when Irina crouches down and presses her lips against Nagisa's own. Within seconds, she feels Irina do... _something_ with her tongue, sliding it in Nagisa's mouth and _nope,_ she isn't going to think about this.

"AH!" Nagisa hears Kayano shriek behind her.

"This looks interesting..." Nakamura snickers.

 _I am so glad Karma isn't in the right mind to take a picture of this..._ Is her only concrete thought.

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"Come to the staff room later," Irina croons, resting the blue-haired girl's head in her voluminous breasts. "I would love to know what you have on him." Releasing Nagisa, she turns her attention to the rest of the class, opening the field for all of them, before meeting with her three-man team. Nagisa hadn't seen them come up, only realising that there were suddenly three men built like boxers, each looking menacing, on the field. One even had a tattoo.

"Nagisaaaaaaa!" Kayano calls immediately after Irina turns her focus onto her plan. Nagisa barely blinks into concentration when Kayano tackles her onto the ground, vigorously wiping her lips with some scratchy material Nagisa realises is, after a bit of squinting, Kayano's jacket.

"I have the water!" Sugino's voice is panicked next to Nagisa's, and she barely has time to even form the words 'What water?' mentally before Kayano forces her to sit up and sprays something minty into her mouth.

"Water isn't going to cut it, Sugino!" Nakamura ( _Nakamura?!)_ snaps, and the something minty is sprayed into her mouth again.

"Bleaugh!" Nagisa coughs into her hand, wondering what on _earth_ is going on. When finally gathers herself enough to register the area around her, all she sees are worried faces. Kayano is obviously supporting her, and Nakamura is holding a spray bottle of...was that mouthwash? In her hands, Sugino clutching a water bottle. Wait.

 _Mouthwash?_

"She's alive!" Kayano wraps her arms around Nagisa.

"You alright, Nagisa?" Sugino asks.

"Yeah, after what that Bitch did..." Nagisa looks up and sees most of the class surrounding her, all looking apprehensive. Instead of replying, she slowly gets to her feet, looking around for Karma. Thankfully, the redhead looks fine, albeit ticked off.

Pstttt.

Nakamura sprays the minty mouthwash into Nagisa's mouth again. "Wash out the taste of bitch!"

"Is that even a taste?" Nagisa asks skeptically.

"Here, wash out your mouth," Sugino hands her the bottle.

"But this is yours?"

"Just get the Bitch's traces off your tongue!" Nakamura sprays about a gallon of the mouthwash.

"Nakamura-san..."

"I hate her!" Okano announces in a hushed voice.

Just then, Irina faces them all, a pistol in her hand. "Oh, and I nearly forgot. If any of your brats try to interfere even slightly with my assassination," She clicks the safety off. "I'll won't hesitate to kill you." She presses the barrel of the pistol to her lips, just further demonstrating how comfortable she is with firearms.

"I _really_ hate her," Okano reaffirms, softly.

This lady may be a pro, Nagisa muses, with kisses powerful enough to make people swoon, tough-looking companions, not to mention the threat delivered in a calm but determined tone...yes, she is definitely the real deal.

However, as Irina apologuises to the three men about a...farce(?) Nagisa can't help but nod with her class in agreement to Okano's statement.

This lady is detestable.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

'STUDY HALL'

The blackboard reads.

Nagisa groans quietly as she tries to make head and tail out of her chemistry work.

Honestly, she'd rather have a proper english lesson, even taught by a bitch, then have to puzzle out her science homework.

"Let's study together," Kayano whispers across the aisle, clearly seeing Nagisa's discomfort. "Turn your chair around and I'll drag mine to Sugino's desk. K?"

Nagisa nods, then hears the tapping of fingernails against a hard surface. Looking up, she sees Irina...Bitch-nee-san using some sort of device, holding a sheaf of papers in her hands. Probably planning an assassination.

Bitch-nee-san looks up then, winking and licking her lips 'seductively' and Nagisa feels a shudder roll down her spine. Thank goodness that isn't directed at her...wait, who is Bitch-nee-san winking at? A quick turn of her head shows her that Karma looks mildly annoyed. Most likely it had been him. Great. When he sees Nagisa looking at him, however, a casual grin forms on his face and he lightly kisses his fingers. Nagisa relaxes slightly when she sees his reaction, but tenses up again when Bitch-nee-san starts laughing from the front of class, seeming to think that Karma's gesture is for her. Nagisa already regrets helping Bitch-nee-san by giving her information about korosensei, like his sense of smell and tentacles...

"Uh, are you going to teach anything, Bitch-nee-san?" Maehara asks, breaking the silence of the room. Nagisa's lips twitch as Bitch-nee-san is obviously pulled from her blissful dreams by those words.

"Yeah, that's right, Bitch-nee-san," Nakamura agrees, sounding just as tired as Maehara.

"I mean, you are a teacher here, aren't you, Bitch-nee-san?" Sugaya calls from the back of the class.

Third times the charm. Bitch-nee-san falls off her chair, a vein visibly twitching in her forehead.

"Stop it with your 'bitch'ing!" Bitch-nee-san roars, jumping to her feet. "For one thing, they're pronounced differently! You japanese just can't differentiate between the 'V' and the 'B' sounds! I'll teach you how to properly pronounce 'V'!" She writes something on the board, a giant 'V'. "First, bite your bottom lip. Go on!" There's some hesitation before everyone listens. "Yes...now sit like that for an hour and a half and give me some peace and quiet!"

 _WHAT KIND OF LESSON IS THIS?!_

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"You've got to be kidding me!" Mimura speaks up, startling the three students who had been practicing shooting. "They're heading to the equipment shed together!"

It's physical education and they had been working on their aim, Karasuma watching over them as usual. Nagisa follows Mimura's gaze and sees Bitch-nee-san and Korosensei walking to one of the only private places in school - there are no windows inside, and, unless you scream, no one can hear what's going on either. From the way Bitch-nee-san is walking...she's sure of what she's doing. Her steps are one of a woman with a _purpose_.

"Karma, why are they going to the equipment shed?" Nagisa murmurs. "Since she's going to assassinate him, do you think she'll be using something very loud? Is that why they're going into the shed? Maybe I'll get a new tip..."

"Uh, that's not _really_ why they're going into the shed..." Karma laughs lightly, tugging at Nagisa's pigtails. "But hey, think what you want to think. Though, I don't think she took the anti-sensei bullets. Haha."

"Did you just _say_ 'haha'?"

"Kinda a let down," Sugaya comments. By now, all of the class is watching. "Watching Korosensei fall for such an obvious play." Then, Bitch-nee-san slides the door open, and Nagisa notices it.

Bitch-nee-san is shaking.

But not the excited kind. So not quite shaking, but more like trembling with fear. Like someone who's doing something they don't want too...

"Stop her..." Nagisa whispers.

"Hmm?" Karma leans down he can hear her better.

"Stop-"

"Karasuma-sensei!" Kataoka calls at the same time. "I don't think we'll ever be able to warm up to her."

"Apologies. She was hired on government orders. Still..." The metal door of the shed creaked as Bitch-nee-san shut it. Nagisa can feel the uneasiness that Bitch-nee-san had been harbouring in her dissipate. "Completing her preparations in a day just proves she's an assassin of the highest caliber." All eyes turn to the equipment shed, waiting for some kind of signal.

"Stop her...Karma..." Nagisa stares forward. _Something is happening..._ "Karma, she's about to-"

Then the sound of machine guns firing fills the air.

"Lose her ace in the hole."

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"NOOOOO!" A loud voice shrieks from the direction of the shed...

"What was that?" Okano shouts.

 _Slither_

 _Slither_

"What's that sound?" Nagisa wrinkles her nose. It sounds gross.

"Uh..." Kayano goes silent awkwardly.

"Gunshots, a scream, and now a slithery sound?!" Okajima gasps.

" _Nooooo..._ " Now the shriek sounds more like a moan.

 _Slither, slither..._

 _"Nooooooooooo..."_ Definitely a moan.

 _Slither, slither, slither, slither..._

 _"_ He's slithering her silly!" Okajima cries out, his cheeks a faint pink. Actually, most of her class are looking rather red. Is there something going on? Even Karma's cheeks were dusted a light crimson colour.

"Let's go see!" Maehara runs to the shed, everyone following suit.

"Korosensei!" Nagisa's surprised to see Korosensei looking so...pink. There's a goofy grin on his face, and he's rubbing his tentacles together.

"How were the boobs?!" Okajima exclaims excitedly. _Oh, gross_ , Nagisa inches away from the perverted boy, sliding next to Kayano. The two girls exchange grimaces. _Had_ that _been what Korosensei was doing with Bitch-nee-san?_

"I would have liked to enjoy myself a little more, but the thought of our classes drew me away," Korosensei turns back to yellow, looking pleased with himself. "the quiz in sixth period is not going to be easy."

"...Hee," Nagisa smiles, feeling relief at the fact that Korosensei is alright. "Well, we'll do our best!"

"Uh..." A small noise draws the attention of the students. Bitch-nee-san stumbles out of the equipment shed, stuffed into a retro PE outfit, looking dazed and dumbfounded. "To think he did all that to me in under a minute..." Her thick blonde hair is tied back with a red bandana. "He loosened my stiff shoulders and back...gave me a lymphatic beauty massage, changed my clothes at top speed...and did that slithery thing with his tentacles..." Bitch-nee-san promptly falls on her face.

"KO," Karma comments dryly.

"What did you do, Korosensei?" Nagisa asks.

Korosensei's face betrays no emotion, turning white. His usual smile draws into a small dot. "Oh, you know, grown-up's have their grown up care."

"That's the face of a guilty grown-up!"

"Now, back to the classroom for lessons!" Korosensei shepards them away from the shed.

Nagisa is the only student who turns around and sees Bitch-nee-san's angry glare.

 _Her title of a 'Pro' must mean a lot to her..._

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 _Tap._

 _Tap._

 _Tap._

Bitch-nee-san sits at the front of class, her fingernails making loud noises as she vents her anger on her tablet thing.

"WHY DOESN'T THIS PODUNK CAMPUS HAVE WIFI?" she shouts randomly, still tapping away angrily. Nagisa sighs. Their teacher is splintering again...

"You're trying so hard, Bitch-nee-san," Karma says in a light tone, his large, condescending, smile betraying his 'kind' words. "I guess he really did a number on your pride, huh?" He mocks.

Bitch-nee-san whirls on Karma, teeth gritted, but Isogai cuts off her murderous thoughts.

"Sensei?" He asks. Being one of the most polite students in class, he probably would never call a teacher 'Bitch-nee-san'... "If you're not going to do any teaching, could you swap with Korosensei? We've got entrance exams this year."

"Hah!" Bitch-nee-san scoffs. "You want that vicious monster to teach you? Do you think your little exams matter if the whole world's at stake?" The mocking condescension in her tone can probably rival Karma's. "Must be nice, being a clueless brat." Nagisa's fingers tighten on her pen, where she's scrawling notes on her physics. _Bitch-nee-san...don't go there..._ "Not to mention, I've heard you 3E students are all the dregs of this school." Everyone tenses. _Great,_ Nagisa thinks dryly. _She went there._ "Why even bother studying at this point?" Nagisa ducks her head slightly. _You're in the E Class, Nagisa?_ A voice screams in her head. _What kind of incompetent fool ends up in there?! How dare you, how dare you after all the money I spend on your education? Are you doing this on purpose?_ "Oh, how about this? If I successfully assassinate him, I'll give you all five million each! That's far more than you'll stand to earn from plain old studying." Behind her voice, Nagisa easily picks up on two things.

 _One_ , Jealousy.

 _Two_ , Insecurity.

An eraser hits the board next to Bitch-nee-san.

"Huh?" The woman stares at it in surprise.

"Get out," Mimura whispers, sounding super pissed.

Twenty-four hateful eyes burn into Bitch-nee-san, Nagisa prepaing herself for the explosion.

"Huh?" Bitch-nee-san repeats.

"GET OUT!" The class roars as a whole, everyone leaping to their feet. A class riot breaks out, everyone shooting stationary and crumpled sheets of paper. "Take a hike, you bitch!" someone shouts, a pencil almost hitting the woman in the forehead. "Bring Korosensei back!" another one shoots a ruler at her. Nagisa ducks down low, a book open on her head to defend herself. A peek to her left reveals that even Kayano has joined in, holding up a sign (where had she gotten that?) that broadcasted the words: "Down with big boobs!" _Wait, that was Kayano's problem? Kayano..._ Nagisa sighs. _Are you only friends with me because I'm flat too?_

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"What is _wrong_ with those brats?! How are they not grateful to be just _breathing_ the same air as a woman like me?!" Irina demands, slapping her palms onto the table.

"I don't think they see it the same way you do, hence the class riot," Karasuma replies briskly, typing busily away at his computer. "You should apologise to them, if you want to stick around for you assassination."

"Why should I? Do I _look_ like a teacher to you?" She snarls. "Let me focus on the assassination!"

Karasuma heaves a sigh, long and hard. "Then there's no choice. Come with me."

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Irina is taken aback as Karasuma shows her all the differences in this class. Everyone is has a double role. She feels somewhat useless now...

"Bitch-nee...Irina-nee-san," A voice calls as she stands in the middle of the clearing. Turning, Irina sees a girl with brown hair tied into a ponytail with a scrunchie and mature seeming-purple eyes blinks at her.

Part of her job requires memory. Irina immediately recognises this girl. "Yada Touka, am I right?"

"Yes," Yada takes a step into the clearing, even though Irina's clearly deep in thought. "There's something I noticed. Well, I overheard Nagisa saying it and I started paying attention. Thing is, you're sad, aren't you?"

"How do you...?" Irina gapes. She's good at hiding her feelings, in fact, she has a perfect mask.

"Nagisa mentioned," Yada smiles. "She said 'Please stop being so mean. Sensei seems really fragile'."

"Fragile? Why that little..." Irina slowly closes her eyes, counts to ten.

"She was trying to stop the class from chasing after you. I tried too," Yada sighs, then walks closer. "But at least everyone's a good person. They all agreed to withhold attacks for now."

"Why are you here to see me, then?"

"I don't know. Because I think you'll need the reassurance? Nagisa'll be here soon, anyway. She was looking for you."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"Bitch-nee-san," Nagisa calls, walking into the clearing. She hesitates, her blue eyes boring into Irina. Irina stiffens. _She hates_ that nickname. "Can I ask you a few questions?'

"What?" Scowling, Irina crosses her arms. _Great._ "What is it you want?"

"'Information for information', Karma told me to say that or you'll lie," Nagisa pulls out a notebook from nowhere. Bowing to Yada, Nagisa moves towards Irina.

"I should go-" Yada begins.

"No, stay. I like you. Please stay," Irina blurts out, surprising herself and probably the other two students as well.

"Uh..." Yada smiles again, moving to Irina's side. "Let's sit down, shall we?"

"How old were you when you first killed somebody?" Nagisa asks as soon as all three females are seated.

Irina freezes. The smell of blood fills her nostrils, soon replaced with the disgusting scent of rot. She shudders as she recalls the time spent in the cellar, hiding...

"You were young, I'm guessing?" Nagisa continues. Irina shuts her eyes. "Younger than we are now." The cruel expression the soldier had been wearing immediately pops into her head without prompting, followed by the fear as she managed to take his gun from him. "He wasn't a target."

"No...he wasn't..." Irina swallows thickly.

"Your first assassination was when you were young too. Maybe our age? You had to use seduction, even though you were just barely a teenager. I'm guessing you had to do unspeakable things before you got the opening for a kill. Therefore, you're jealous of our normal lives a bit, which is why you dislike us so immensely and call us brats. Because compared to you, we are very sheltered, right? Plus, your name sounds Russian. Russia had a war a few years ago, didn't it? It was ended when the tyrant director died mysteriously."

"I..."

"Your family is dead, which is why you cling to your title of pro. You have people who took you in, taught you the art of killing...is that right? Before they took you in, there were people who abandoned you. Promised to take care of you and just dumped you on the road. Because of this, you're scared of disappointing them, in case they disown you, which is why you always do your best."

"Yes."

"Then why aren't you?"

Irina's eyes snap open, meeting Nagisa's equally blue ones. "What do you mean? I'm trying my hardest-"

"You just noticed, right?" Yada interrupts. "We're all trying our hardest in this class. It means nothing if you're only trying your best while doing half of what you can do."

"What...?" Irina fumbles with her words as she tries to explain herself. She's doing her best as an assassin...

Oh.

 _Oh_.

These girls mean that she has to join their classroom, that she has to join with their dual roles. If she's only doing her best as an assassin, and not a teacher, she's only delivering half the results she can.

"I'm sure your father figure and mother figure will be proud of you no matter what," Yada consoles. Irina thinks of Ogla, her mentor in seduction, her somewhat mother, and Lorvo, who taught her knife skills and shooting and infiltration, her somewhat father. She wonders what they would think about her teaching. Olga would be thrilled, naturally, she's a kind woman, especially for an ex-assassin. Lorvo, on the other hand, might be rude about it...

"So please consider teaching us properly," Nagisa concludes.

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 _Clack clack clack._

Nagisa looks up. Someone is writing on the chalkboard.

 _Clack clack clack._

 _You are incredible..._ the whiteboard reads.

 _Clack clack clack. Tap._

In bed.

"Repeat after me," Bitch-nee-san stands at the front of class, chalk in hand. "'You are incredible in bed'."

The class hesitates. Nagisa can see that clearly. Everyone is split into their various groups, but then everyone complies, moving back into their own seats.

"Yuu aa inkuredeiburu in beddo..." The class chants, the english words coated with thick japanese accents.

"When I assassinated a certain VIP in America, I first used my charms to seduce his bodyguard. Those are the words he said to me. In japanese, it's: 'Beddo deno kimi wa sugoi yo...' or, 'You screw like no one's business'." Bitch-nee-san accompanies the illicit words with a flirty wink.

 _Just what are you making us say?_ Nagisa gapes.

"It's often said that the fastest way to learn a foreign language is to get yourself a lover who speaks it. You want to understand what they are saying, so you try your hardest to make sense of those words. I've had many opportunities through my work to learn many languages that way. Therefore, my classes will teach you how to sweet-talk foreigners. The basics of conversation right from a pro assassin," Bitch-nee-san hesitates before writing something on the board, erasing the words 'Study hall'. "Master them and they will serve you well when you meet a real, live, foreigner."

 _A foreigner!_ Nagisa can practically sense Nakamura and Okajima drooling at the idea of meeting hollywood stars.

"Let that octopus teach you what you need to know for exams. The only thing I can teach you is practical conversational skills. And after that, if you _still_ don't think of me as a teacher..." Irina hesitates, flushing slightly. "I'll give up on my assassination and go. You're alright with that, right?" No one responds. "And...I'm sorry about everything else."

Gasps and tentative glances are exchanged around the class.

"It's fine with me!" Kayano says cheerfully. "I mean, I don't like your big boobs, but I want to learn how to sweet-talk unsuspecting men!"

With that, the class explodes into laughter. Nagisa smiles.

Of course, a few minutes later, Bitch-nee-san...no, Bitch-sensei now, courtesy of Karma again, is screaming that she hates them all.

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 **BY 'she's about to lose her ace in the hole' Nagisa means that Bitch-sensei is about to loose the advantage she had over Korosensei, namely, her flirtation.**

 **Yayyyy, a little late, but hey! It's up :3**

 **So the thing about the war within russia...IDK, so I just 'made it up', you could say. XD**

 **Most of what I mentioned about Irina was taken from the manga, where it actually is her past, I guess? So I didn't make up Ogla, or anything else. Except the jealousy. That one i inferred. Anyway, the next chapter will _pro-_ ba _-bly_ be up next week, instead of two this week, because...well. The bane of all our existences.**

 _ **Exams.**_

( •᷄⌓•᷅ )

 **[Nother Kamoji there. Hope you can see it!]**

 **Anyway, I'm hoping I do well for my exams! So I gotta pack away fanfiction and _do something_ about it!**

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 _Extras:_

 _(Because there wasn't much Karmagisa/Karunagi)_

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"Nagisa!" Karma slings an arm around the petite girl as they walk home.

"Yes?"

"'You are incredible in bed'," He parrots to her in english. "'I really can't wait until we can do it again.'"

"Do what again?" Nagisa's brows furrow. "Oh, you want to hold a sleepover? Like the ones when had when we were in elementary school!"

"You're too pure, I swear."

"What did you mean then?"

"It was supposed to be a joke. Unfortunately, you didn't get it."

Nagisa gives Karma a deadpan look, but doesn't shrug off his arm. Yet. So she's probably not _too_ upset, Karma reasons. "Don't you think it'll be nice to learn how to sweet-talk foreigners? Maybe I'll be able to convince someone to give me Sonic Ninja tickets."

"It does sound really fun, except I already got that lesson down pat," Karma leans down a little, whispering the words into Nagisa's ear quietly. He's graced with a light blush before Nagisa sighs softly.

"For the millionth time, Karma, I am not a foreigner," Nagisa grumbles, her cheeks slowly turning redder at Karma's close proximity. Pleased with the result, Karma lightly nips her earlobe, like they're not talking about something serious.

"Hello? You used to live in Europe...? You are too a foreigner," Karma points out, Nagisa batting him away.

"Don't bite my ear, Karma."

"But it's funnnnnn..."

"If you say so," Nagisa kisses Karma's cheeks, shrugging his arm off her shoulders. Hardly bothered by that, Karma takes Nagisa's hand. She lets him. "But you wouldn't be able to sweet talk me if I were one, anyway."

"Ouch."

"We can both agree that you don't know how to flirt," Nagisa squeezes Karma's hand, beaming. "At least, not to me."

"I can too. OK, listen, did it hurt?"

"Huh?"

"When you fell from heaven, because you look like an angel."

"No, but it hurt when I scraped my knee climbing out from hell."

"No wonder you're so hot," Karma is quick to rebut with, laughing when Nagisa scrounges up her face, clearly trying to think of a comeback.

"Aww..."

"You just can't beat meeee!" Karma sing-songs, feeling pleased when Nagisa pouts, indirectly admitting defeat.

"Let me try again."

"Fine." Karma feels a small smile curve onto his lips. Nagisa probably thinks that replying to the horrible pick-up lines that way is better, so he may as well let her embarrass herself for him. "But now you try, and I respond."

Nagisa frowns, clearly thinking. "Lend me your phone. I'm going to google up cheesy pick-up lines." Karma obligues, watching as Nagisa scrolls through google. "Ok...'Are you a magician? Because when I look at you, everyone else disappears'."

"You bet I am," Karma snickers. "I sent everyone down to hell to say hello to my father."

"So he's...I can't think of a response for that. Next one. 'Do you know what your shirt is made of? Grabs shirt-'"

"I think you're supposed to grab my shirt and not read it aloud."

"Really? Ok..." Nagisa tugs on the sleeve of Karma's jacket. "'Do you know what your shirt...clothes are made off? Boyfriend material.'"

"Really? Well, I could have sworn we were already dating."

"Karma. Oh, here! 'Are you a camera? Because everytime I look at you, I smile.'"

"That's not fair, Nagi. You smile at everyone."

"Um...You try."

"OK. Do you believe in Karma?"

"Which one?"

"Because I'm here to take you out."

"That made no sense."

"It means, 'Let's go eat sushi, I'm asking you on a date.'"

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."

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 **Ok I'm out...**

 **But before that:**

 _ **HikariWhite95:** Haha I'm glad you're pleased about that! I think the idea of them dating is really popular XD_

 _ **Amaya Kureta:** Aww, thank you very much! Hayami does have a good balance (I'm a little jealous, I fall even when I'm walking on flat surfaces) Hope I didn't make you wait too long! Here's the next chapter!_

 _ **Konan248:** Thanks :3 I really wanted to have like...a whole chapter on how they got together but I swore to my shrine of fangirl-uh, my food pile that I wouldn't reveal how they got together until when I'd planned it (It seems to far away now...) But to be honest, I'll probably dump a '.5' chapter somewhere with how I mentally picture them getting togehter._

 _ **Gingerhale:** Welllll...Looks like Bitch-sensei kissed the both of them. Hope you don't mind. Plus, Nagisa's jelly! Lol. Not really, just a mild one. Jealousy does seem more like a Karma trait, huh? Are they really OOC? *reads back* OMG THEY ARE :O *goes into panic mode* What should I do? What should I do? *reads the rest of the review* OH. Thanks! So it suits a female Nagisa more, huh? YAY! *Runs around laughing and takes my sister's chips*_

 ** _Yamashita Takumi9:_** _Yes. Yes they're dating. *Korosensei emoticon face* Isn't it great? I really really was supposed to only reveal it later, but then, but then...BUT THEN I DECIDED OTHERWISE! You understand? Really? That's great. I spent two or three times the time that I spent on Chapter two writing the third chapter. *Shakes computer* ALL THIS THING'S FAULT!_

 _ **Yhanrah Shinaide:** Yes. He's back. He and Rio are going to blow up the-oops, almost threw out a spoiler *laughs*_

 _ **Shiranai Atsune:** THEY ARE TOGETHER! *throws impromptu party*_

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 **Anyway, if you like this, I hope you leave a review :3 It always makes me super happy when I see them XD**

 **(I'm such a weirdo...I should go hide in my hole...nope I need to study. *wipes away cinematic tear* Farewell for a week...)**


	5. Chapter 5

***Clears throat***

 **Well, I just finished my science exams.**

 **And I guess I should be studying? But like...my computer was calling for me to tumblr and on the way, I guess I kinda just typed this :P**

 **Originally, I was going to post this because I was bummed, because I did my bio paper earlier and it was soooo bad (ugh) then I did my physics paper and I blazed through it and I don't know how to react? Cause either nail it or fail it? So I'm just confused/bummed out so here you go**

 **So yep.**

 **Disclaimer: I. Do. Not. Own. Assassination. Classroom. But. I. Own. A. Lot. Of. Exams.**

 ***Head bangs***

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 _Chapter 5:_

 _Painfully Honest..._

 ** _OR_**

 _Toxin Time!_

 ** _AND_**

 _Assembly Time!_

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Slowly, Nagisa peeks her head around the door of the lab.

"You sure that it will work, Kayano?" She whispers.

Next to her, Kayano beams, holding out what looks like a simple, small catapult machine. "I couldn't make anything like electronics, but it seemed easy enough to make something like this! Just a rubber band to increase the force, see? If you wrap it around the spoon many many times, then release it, the spoon will go flying and it will fling the stuff in it!" Nagisa frowns slightly, staring at the small catapult. She can't quite figure out how it works, but if Kayano is _sure_ it'll work...

"Did you think of that yourself?" Sugino asks. The three friends are gathered by the door, waiting for Korosensei to come in.

"Nope! I used YouTube!" Kayano giggles. "You really _can_ find _everything_ online!"

"Except a way to kill Korosensei..." Nagisa trails off when she sees Korosensei and the two class representatives, Isogai and Kataoka, emerge from the end of the corridor on their way to the lab room, holding boxes of science equipment. "Here they come..."

Kayano, Nagisa and Sugino make their way to their lab table, the mini catapult strategically placed in the center of the table, hidden among the junk food in there. Kayano places it into a box covered with glittery gold paper, wrapping a green ribbon around it in a specific manner.

"Does this look convincing?" She asks.

"Eh? Is that a present?" Karma asks, walking over to them from his own table. Perching his elbow on Nagisa's hand, he examines the box. "Ah, I see. So I'm guessing that when the ribbon is pulled, it will also trigger the elastic inside the box, creating some kind of jack-in-the-box, or a catapult."

"Actually, that's what we're doing! A catapult!" Kayano passes the box to Karma. "Can you think of anyway to help improve it?"

"Yes," Nagisa more or less can feel Karma's even grin. "Put in this!" He dangles a small drawstring bag in front of Kayano.

"Karma, no," Nagisa sighs in exasperation. "No putting in itching powder."

"Why not, though?" Sugino shrugs. "It could be a good idea."

"Let's try it, then!" Kayano takes the bag.

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The door to the lab slides open.

Instantly, Maehara, Okajima and Mimura all launch at the yellow octopus at the door, knives swinging frantically. Nagisa feels random bursts of wind as Korosensei leaps from table to table, placing flasks, setting up equipment with the three boys chasing after him. By the time Maehara, Okajima and Mimura are a heap at the front of the class, exhausted, he's finished preparing the lab.

"He seriously did all that while dodging three knives at once?" Maehara pants.

"You ok, Hiroto?" Isogai asks, stepping into the class with Kataoka.

"Y-Yeah..."

"You mean you three _really_ thought that an assassination attack _that_ simple was going to work?" Karma smirks, Korosensei sniggering behind him.

"Sugino, you should go to your own lab table. You too, Karma," Nagisa pushes off Karma's elbow off her head. "OK?"

"Yeah, yeah..." Karma ruffles Nagisa's hair once before returning to his table, with Chiba, Hayami and Okuda.

Okuda...Nagisa's head snaps back to look at the bespectacled girl. Okuda looks worried, her shoulders tensed and hunched over as she grips her knees. _Is she going_ _to try to assassinate Korosensei?_

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"And with that, our experiment to extract artificial colouring from junk food...is a success!" Korosensei concludes, before a giant gust of wind blows around the classroom, taking all the snacks the students brought with it. Standing at the front of class, Korosensei's arms are laden with the food items. "I will take care of the remaining items."

"What?" The class yelps.

"We bought that with our own money," Isogai shouts.

"He just did that to get a hold on enough snacks to last him until payday tomorrow," Maehara growls. Kataoka and he are Nagisa and Kayano's lab partners.

"Why is a super-organism that can destroy the earth living paycheck to paycheck?" Kayano facepalms.

Smiling awkwardly, Nagisa shrugs. "Well, you have to do what you have to do..." She glances at Kayano, who looks surprised. It seems that Korosensei took the box with the catapult too...

"What's wrong?" Kataoka glances between the two girls, who look crestfallen. The plan had been for Kayano to offer the sweets and snacks to Korosensei, with the box hidden in them. One end of the box's ribbon had been wrapped around a pocky box, the other end tied neatly around a licorice packet. When Korosensei sorted through the piles of candy, he was supposed to activate the catapult, which would throw a handful of itching powder and anti-sensei bullets at him. _Oh,_ Nagisa realises. _Since he took the snacks anyway, the plan should still be alright!_

"Nothing. We just overthought something," Kayano waves off the query.

 _Tap. Tap_.

The sound of footsteps causes the class to look up in surprise, seeing Okuda tentatively walking to the front of class. Behind her back, Nagisa notes the three flasks she's gripping.

"U-Um, Sensei?" Okuda asks slowly, looking more and more fearful as the class falls silent.

"Can I help you, Okuda-san?" Korosensei saves Okuda from an awkward pause.

"U-Um..." Okuda shuts her eyes tight and thrusts her hands forward, the three flasks clinking as they knock into each other. "This is poison! Please drink it!"

The class bursts into soft murmurs, seemingly taken aback by Okuda's completely honest assassination attempt. _Painfully honest assassination attempt, actually._ Nagisa actually almost falls out of her chair, feeling disappointed in Okuda. _There are so many other better ways she could have attempted this,_ Nagisa groans mentally. _But instead she's wasting it..._ Immediately, Nagisa feels mean for thinking such thoughts about someone who has been nothing but awkwardly nice to her.

"The up-front approach, huh..." Maehara voices.

"I-I guess that's too much to ask..." Okuda trails off, looking so crushed that Nagisa almost wants to hug her.

"My, my, Okuda-san, this is certainly a straightforward assassination attempt," Korosensei comments idly. Nagisa sighs. _Straightforward is one word for it, yes..._

"W-Well, I'm no good at surprise attacks or t-tricks like everyone else is..." Okuda mumbles. It's only because Nagisa's seated at the front of class that she hears her. "But I am good at Chemistry! So I put my heart and soul into this."

"Heart and soul?"

"Okuda..."

"No one would be dumb enough to drink it just like that."

"Very well," Korosensei takes the flasks, surprising everyone. "I would be delighted to!" Uncorking the first flask...actually, it was a test tube, Korosensei pours the contents into his mouth.

"Whoa!"

"He really drank it?!"

"T-This...This is..." Korosensei doubles over, his voice sounding strained. Nagisa hears the sound of chairs scraping against the floor and turns to see Hayami and Chiba both out of their seats.

"Do you think he'll die?!" Maehara exclaims, leaning on the table.

"He wouldn't drink it if he thought he would, would he?" Kataoka drums her fingers on the table top.

Korosensei turns blue, growing horns.

"Uh, I think he grew horns," Isogai comments unnecessarily.

"Ah, this tastes like Sodium Hydroxide, it's poisonous to humans, but unfortunately not me." Korosensei uncorks the second flask...actually, it's also a test tube...Nagisa mentally chastises herself for mistaking the slim tubes for flasks.

"I-Is that so?" Okuda waits as Korosensei drinks the second one.

Korosenesi makes a noise like he's about to throw up, slowly bending over the table. Nagisa's half-out of her chair when Korosensei frightens himself, his face turning a nice shade of pastel mint green, wings sprouting from the sides of his head in place of the horns.

"Ah, thallium acetate," Korosensei places the empty test tubes on the teacher's table. "Now for the last one!" Korosensei uncorks the flash, yes, it's a flask this time, and tosses it's contents into his mouth.

"What's he going to grow now?" Maehara mutters under his breath.

Korosensei begins moaning, his tentacles wrapped around his...stomach area, Nagisa supposes.

Korosensei's face turns completely white, his normally large grin turning into a tiny dot. His face looked like this - ( ' . ' )

"His face turned blank..." Kayano scratches the side of her cheek.

"He's like a living emoticon!"

"And the last one is aqua regia. I see. The only effect these will have are on my face," Even Korosensei's voice changes, becoming soft and muffled, as though he is speaking through a pipe. "Even if you come to hate me, please do not hate assassination. Oh, and Okuda-san? I can't have a student making poison unsupervised. It's not safe."

"Yes. I understand..." Okuda sounds disheartened.

"However, if you have some time later on...why don't we work on a poison that would _really_ kill me?" Korosensei asks. Nagisa's eyes widen. _What is Korosensei planning...?_

"Really?" Okuda perks right up. "Ok!"

"Making poison _with_ the target...?" Kayano's face is a mix of disbelief and exasperation.

"I'll have to ask her what it ends up being..." Nagisa's expression is probably similar to her friend's.

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"Say, Karasuma..." Bitch-sensei moves along the nearly corridor, fanning herself with one hand. Karasuma, standing at the window and watching the students play assassination tennis, ignores her. "It's so _hot_ today. Don't you think so, Karasuma?" Bitch-sensei drapes herself over Karasuma's arm.

"If you're feeling hot, give yourself some space," Karasuma replies bluntly. "I'm not your target, stop fooling around."

Hidden in the shadows outside the lab, Karma sniggers, Nagisa laughing a little, too. "Re-gect-ted!" Karma sings.

"What a stick in the mud," Bitch-sensei complains, but complies, giving the man some room.

"If you wish to remain here, pull yourself together," Karasuma chides.

"Ouch." Nagisa mumbles.

"But seriously, it's so humid and sticky here," Bitch-sensei fans herself again. "So disgusting."

"Does she think?" Karma says snidely. "And she hasn't even been here this long."

"You don't need to be here long to feel the heat," Nagisa shrugs. "It _is_ getting close to summer, but apparently it's still too soon for summer uniforms. Kayano says that the people in the main campus purposely postpone getting summer and winter uniforms so that we'll suffer up here. Anyway, it's just really hot."

"Then just roll up your sleeves."

"I've tried. It's hard to do on your...own..." Nagisa trails off as Karma helps her fold her sleeves up. "Thanks..." His fingers suddenly freeze as he is rolling the fabric of her right sleeve up. Nagisa doesn't say anything. Slowly, Karma rolls the sleeve back down.

"What happened?"

Nagisa plays with her fingers. On her right forearm there is a large purple bruise that stings occasionally. If she tells Karma what happened, he'll probably get upset, but she can't lie. He'll know. "Nothing much. I...I split the noodles and mother was a little upset..." When Karma's face begins to darken, Nagisa is quick to try and tame it. "Karma, it's my fault for being careless. I dropped perfectly good food on carpeted floor, and wasted-"

"Your grades in science _are_ superb," Korosensei speaks up, cutting into their conversation. "But..."

"But everything else goes right over my head," Okuda agrees.

 _Oh, thank god._ Nagisa silently composes a thank you note to Korosensei for speaking up just then. "Let's listen in..."

"Nagisa."

"It's only natural that I ended up in the E Class. Japanese class especially confuses me..." Okuda continues. "I never know the right way to phrase things or how to express myself as a person."

Nagisa freezes, thinking of a small tablet in her bag, an embarrassing poem on it.

"But I'm OK with that," Nagisa and Karma exchange looks. _Okuda is alright with only being good at science?_ "Because equations and formulas always have the right answers. They're free of fussy word games and complicated emotions." Nagisa has never felt that way, or even thought about science that way. To her, something as flowery and flexible as languages, or really, humanities in general, is a great thing, something you can always expand on and improve your general field. It considers everyone's opinion, no matter if they are the underdog or the king. Unlike science. Science and maths have always been something she feels is too blunt. There is only one answer, only _one_ right opinion instead of many, only taking into account one person's - oh. _That's why Okuda likes science..._

"That's true," Korosensei comments and Nagisa jumps, because it's as though he has read her thoughts. "So I have a homework assignment for you. Handle it with the utmost of care."

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"It's a little silly that Okuda didn't camouflage the poison. It would've been a golden opportunity," Karma takes Nagisa's school bag as the two begin their walk home.

"That is true," Nagisa taps her chin. "If Okuda did something like...put the poison in one of Korosensei's sweet drinks to overpower the smell, that may have had a different ending."

"Anyway, back to what we were talking about before..." Karma's voice lowers a little, probably mindful of the busy street they are on. "Did that woman lift her hand against you?"

"It's nothing, Karma. It hardly hurts anymore, see?" Nagisa pushes up her sleeve and shows the bruise. "Touch it. It won't sting."

"I'd rather not risk it. You have high pain tolerance and all, Nagisa, so it's unlikely that you'll show if it hurts you," Karma rolls Nagisa's sleeve back down, taking her hand at the same time. "I'd rather not hurt you."

"It's fine. Don't worry."

"Please."

"Well, do you think Okuda's poison will kill Korosensei?" Nagisa carefully intertwines their fingers together as she poses the question, hoping to distract the redhead boy.

"Will your little jack-in-the-box kill him?"

"Who knows, Karma. Kayano says that she, Sugino and I will tell him about the box tomorrow, and see how it fares. That is, if Okuda's poison doesn't work. _Do_ you think it will work?"

"No. Duh. That stupid octopus probably wants to teach her something, I bet you," Karma scoffs. Then he stands completely still, causing Nagisa to linger in the middle of the sidewalk as well. "Look, stay over my house for the rest of the week. It's hell week for your mom, isn't it?"

"Y-Yes..." _Hell week,_ that's what Karma calls the monthly weeks where her mother has an extremely important project at work and must complete it at all costs. This usually causes her to be short tempered and violent (or _more_ short tempered and violent, as Karma would say). "She's working on-"

"Well, I don't care. Stay over at my place."

"It's not as simple as that, Karma. Plus it's unlawful to have a girl stay a night at her boyfriend's house."

"I don't care. I'll abolish the law."

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There's a crowd gathered around Okuda as everyone tries to get a glimpse of the poison, held inside a conical flask. It's a pinkish red, surprisingly. For some reason, Nagisa had thought that it would be the cliche poison green.

"So Korosensei told you to bring that to class?" Kayano asks doubtfully.

"Yes! He said that theoretically, this one should work the best!" Okuda chirps. Today, she is as cheerful as Kurahashi, and justifiably so.

"He even drew a comic on how to store the poison correctly..." Nagisa reads through the short Manga, with things like temperature and 'cooling rack' scribbled above. The manga is a fair bit ridiculous, saying why one should store poison correctly. (The protagonist is a man who couldn't store his poison properly, and therefore got dumped because he was too dangerous. Then, after learning how to store his poison correctly, he gained five girlfriends, entered university and just excelled in life in general.)

"Seriously?" Sugino whistles. "That's a bit..."

"I guess it's his method of encouraging me!" Okuda beams. "I think he wants to hone my strengths, even though I'm not good with words.

"A poison that'll kill him..."

"Now everyone," Korosensei enters the classroom. "Settle down."

"Korosensei! I brought the poison!" Okuda immediately presents the bottle of red liquid to Korosensei, who takes it.

"That's wonderful, Okuda-san. Well then, down the hatch it goes," Korosensei gulps it all down.

The whole class waits.

Korosensei's eyes glint red, and Nagisa guesses that he's about to be extremely...evil-like.

"I have to thank you, Okuda-san," Korosensei's voice is an octave lower and a thousand times more serious than usual.

"Huh?" The bespectacled girl jumps.

"With your concoction, I can advance to a new state in being..." His tentacles wrap around himself tightly, like a cocoon.

"What...what do you mean...?" Okuda near whispers.

There a giant cyclone of wind then, causing everyone to try and defend themselves as Korosensei laughs manically, flinging his tentacles around. Is it Naigsa's imagination, or is there really beams of red light shooting everywhere?

"Phew." Korosensei exhales.

The class pauses.

Korosensei's robes are on the floor, but the yellow octopus is nowhere to be...seen...

Oh.

On the teacher's podium-desk, there is a large metalic silver blob, with a hat on it and Korosensei's giant smile.

"HE MELTED?!" The class exclaims as a whole.

"Actually I had you concoct a tonic that would stimulate my cells and enhance my fluidity..." Korosensei's voice is slimier now, since he's a liquid oozing over the edges of the podium.

Korosensei disappears and peeks his silver head out from under Kataoka's desk.

"As a liquid, I can fit into the tightest of spaces," He brags, practically sliding out of the desk.

"Um...Why are you in there?" Kataoka asks a little apprehensively.

"What's more, I'm still as speedy as ever," Korosensei launches out of the desk, bouncing around the class at Mach 20. "Go ahead! Just try to kill me!"

Several of their class pulls their guns and knives, swinging randomly in the hopes of getting in a lucky hit.

"This is one messed-up teacher!" Okajima hisses.

"What was _in_ that poison, Okuda-san?" Kazaki and Yada shout.

"Y-You tricked me Korosensei!" Okuda screeches. Korosensei stills in the corner of the ceiling, staring at Okuda with his ( ' . ' ) face.

The smile reappears on Korosensei's face suddenly, spreading wide, and Nagisa is reminded of Totoro. "Having the verbal aptitude to trick your target is a vital part of assassination, Okuda-san."

"Huh?" Okuda blinks.

"Verbal aptitude?" Nagisa murmurs, slowly inching behind Okuda. Since Okuda is the nearest person, and Kayano is too small, Sugino too far and Karma nowhere to be seen, Okuda is the first choise as...well, Nagisa has her shy moments when she wants to be hidden.

"Yes. Even the most potent of poisons is wasted if you offer it in such a naive way that your target can take advantage of _you,"_ Korosensei drops from the ceiling with a wet plop. "Nagisa-san, how would _you_ try to poison me?"

"H-Huh?" Nagisa stammers. All eyes shift to her, and it's useless trying to duck behind Okuda. The two girls aren't even close friends to begin with. "Uh, I'd probably mix it into a sweet drink that you like..." She smiles. "Then offer it to you as a special drink I made."

"Very good!" Korosensei slides into his robes, his voice coming out muffled. "To deceive someone, you must understand their feelings. To tailor your words accordingly, language is the key to an effective poisoning," Korosensei stand, looking like himself again. "I'm sure that one day, your scientific talents will benefit many. You will need to explain things clearly to as many people as possible, and so, by developing your language skills to kill me, you can poison two birds with one vial."

"O-Ok!" Okuda once again becomes a ball of sunshine, beaming brighter than the sun. Happy for her, Nagisa smiles too.

"Hehehe," A small giggle from the back of class causes everyone to focus on Karma, who reappears at the back of the classroom. "We've got a lot more to think about than just assassination, it seems."

 _Even a student brandishing a deadly poison is hopeless in the face of Korosensei, huh,_ Nagisa thinks. _I guess taking our teacher's life now is still a distant dream for_ _us..._

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"Korosensei!" Kayano calls. Nagisa stands awkwardly next to her, Sugino jumping up and down and waving. The three of them are outside the staffroom, Karasuma, Bitch-sensei and Korosensei looking at the three of them strangely. "Korosensei! The other day, when you took our snacks...you took a present of mine!"

"D-Did I?" Korosensei splutters. "My apologies, Kayano-san!"

"It's alright!" Sugino laughs. "It was a present we put together for you, anyway. We have to go down for assembly soon, so we might as well have you open it now."

"Yeah!" Kayano bounces up and down.

"Really? Why did you get me a present?" Korosensei looks a little confused.

"Uh...actually, it's because it's been longer than three weeks and you're still here..." Nagisa scratches her cheek. "Our last teacher...she left before three weeks were up. So it's kind of a 'thank you for being here this long' sort of present. Also, we hope that you are feeling at home here."

"Even if you _are_ a target," Sugino nods.

"Is that so?" Korosensei goes through his snacks stash, pulling out the box. "I see."

The weight of the snacks is clearly pulling the ribbon down. In seconds, the jack-in-the-box would explode.

"Funnily enough, Isogai-kun and Kataoka-san said something like that earlier," Korosensei pulls the ribbon.

The three students suck in a breath -

It explodes onto Korosensei.

(No, he does not die. He dodges all the bullets, smirks at them, but then receives a faceful of itching powder half-way through his lecture on their uncreativity.)

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 _Group 1: Okano, Isogai and Maehara._

"Hurry! If we're late...who knows what they'll do to us this time," Isogai calls over his shoulder, he, Maehara and Okano cautiously making their way down the mountainside. As the 3E students still aren't sure the best route down to the campus, they all split into small groups, all leaving from varying spots.

"Ugh, I remember we already had to clear out the campus flowerbeds," Okano sighs. "It was the first week, too..."

"Man, that was really rough, the campus flowerbeds were _huge_!" Maehara agrees.

"I don't want to hear that after you slacked off all the time, Hiroto," Isogai scolds.

"Did I?" Maehara laughs. "The flowerbeds were done, though."

"That's because Yukimura-sensei was nice enough to pick up where you stopped randomly," Isogai reminds him.

"Yeah, she was really nice, she really believed in us," Okano smiles. "It's a pity she stopped teaching us."

"Maybe she ran away with the guy she was in love with!" Maehara chirps, suddenly energised. "My, that would've been _some_ scandal! A lovely little news-"

"UGH!" Okano shrieks suddenly, cutting Maehara off. "WHY ARE WE THE ONLY ONES WHO HAVE TO PUT UP WITH THIS?!"

"Yuma," Maehara jostles Isogai. "Is she talking about me?"

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 _The school-wide assembly that takes place once a month. For those in Class E, it's a depressing event._

Since the school is apparently 'Keeping the underachievers from affecting the rest of the student body' by 'giving Class E it's own special building far away from the main campus'. Normally, the students aren't allowed to step foot onto the main campus, the only exception being the assembly, when they come down the mountain to attend it. The mountain has all sorts of wild animals and dangerous paths, yet the E class is required to go down, all during their lunch period, naturally.

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 _Group 2: Chiba, Okajima and Mimura._

"The bridge!" Mimura and Okajima yell as the wooden bridge they are on suddenly breaks.

"WHO TOLD US ABOUT THIS SHORTCUT?!" Mimura screams.

"AHHH!" Falling into the river, Okajima gets washed away.

"OKAJIMA!" Mimura reaches for his friend too late.

There's a pause.

"That went _well_ ," Chiba mumbles, helping Mimura up. "The river washes to the bottom of the mountain. If we hurry we can catch up with him."

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Also, to maintain discipline (Or so they say), the E Class is required to line up in the gym _before_ all the other classes.

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 _Group 3: Yada, Fuwa and Hara_

"Ahhh!" The three girls run into snakes.

Hara Sumire, who is a plump but sweet girl with dark eyes and dark hair tied back into a small ponytail, is nearly bitten by a snake when a certain male with shaved hair is launched from the air. He lands in the pile of snakes, all of them latching onto him.

"OKAJIMA-KUN!" The girls yelp.

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 _Group 4: Terasaka, Yoshida, Muramatsu and Hazama (Terasaka gang)_

"BOULDERS!"

Okajima appears from nowhere, snakes all clinging to him. The boulder somehow refocuses on him.

"O-OKAJIMA!"

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 _Group 5: Sugino, Kanzaki, Sugaya, Kayano, Okuda, Nagisa and Karma_

"Who poked the beehive?!" Sugino shouts.

"Karma!" Nagisa scolds.

"I NEEDED THE HONEY~" Karma replies, holding a beehive. "And while I'm at it, I should get some bees..." Nagisa swears she hears Karma mumbles under his breath.

"Weren't you skipping?" Nagisa ducks behind the Sugino, since Karma is _holding a freaking beehive_!

"I had to make sure none of you died on your way down. You're important for an assassination I have planned," Karma says simply, poking the beehive again.

"That would've been kind of sweet if I wasn't so scared of the bees," Kayano rushes away from the said insects.

"Karma!" Nagisa sighs.

Then, a boy with shaved hair who is waterlogged, has snakes clinging to him, and is being chased by a boulder, runs right into the swarm of bees.

The bees give chase.

"O-OKAJIMA!"

"Okajima...he's...been through a lot..." Sugino states, staring after the poor boy. "I hope he'll be ok..."

"Yeah..." Nagisa agrees, before seeing something out of the corner of her eye. "KARMA PUT THE BEEHIVE DOWN!"

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 _Karma does not put the beehive down._

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"For crying out loud! Enough!" Kayano collapses onto the floor. "No more bees or anything, please!"

"Y-Yeah..." Nagisa falls to the ground next to her, the rest of their group following after.

"Well, bye Nagisa-chan!" Karma waves at her before disappearing off into the forest. Still holding the beehive. "I'll have to drop you off here.

"But we're only halfway - and he's gone," Sugaya groans. "While he kept doing stupid things, it's undoubted that he was defending us."

"Thankfully, Okajima took a few for the team," Sugino says, lifting his head to look at the poor soul.

"Are you all alright?" Karasuma emerges from the forest behind them.

"K-Karasuma-sensei!" Kayano stammers, leaping to her feet. "We're all fine!"

"There's no need to hurry. If we continue with this pace, we'll arrive there with time to spare," Karasuma checks his watch.

"HOLD ON!" A loud shout echoes around the mountain, sounding a lot like Bitch-sensei. "YOU BRATS!"

"Oh! Bitch-sensei!" Hara, Yada and Fuwa watches as she blazes past them.

Falling to her hands and knees, Bitch-sensei pants heavily. "No one told me about a class trip during lunch break!"

"Wow, you're a real mess, Bitch-sensei," Sugino smiles awkwardly.

"Do you know how hard it is to run in heels?!" She demands.

"It's pretty hard, isn't it?" Kayano and Nagisa say at the same time, before smiling at each other. "Here," reaching into her pocket, Nagisa pulls out one of those gel pad things. "Put this in your shoe. I use them when I have to wear heeled stuff," _Because my mother wants me to become a stiletto lady,_ Nagisa silently adds.

"Oh...?" Bitch-sensei accepts the gel pad thing, looking it over. "OH! I've used these before and they're not half-bad. Nice job, brat. Give me the other half." Nagisa obligues.

"Karasuma-sensei," Sugaya is asking. "Where's Korosensei?"

"Oh." Karasuma begins walking. "We can't risk the other students seeing him, so I had him wait at the old campus, alone."

"Well, not really alone," Nagisa says under her breath, remembering Karma, _who is skipping_.

"Not to mention, he was having a strange problem. He said that he was itchy all over but his fingerpads were too soft to scratch himself."

"Whoa, the itching powder worked?" Nagisa murmurs.

"Nagisa? What was that?" Kanzaki asks softly.

"Nothing..." Nagsia flushes.

"It's not much further until the main campus. Let's go," Karasuma instructs.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

Kunugigaoka Junior High School.

The back courtyard is a direct link to the hall, as well as the thick foliage that is on the mountain.

It is also currently littered with 3E students, spread out and sprawled in random positions as they try to catch their breaths. Some are standing, others flopped down onto the ground.

"That freakin' killed me..." Okajima whispers, lying face up. The snake that is coiled around his middle slowly uncoils itself, disappearing into the trees. The other snakes soon follow.

"We made it," Isogai is standing, looking near perfect in his uniform, somehow, although he looks a bit tired.

"Yeah..." Maehara, on the other hand, is being supported by Isogai. He has covered his face with his hands and is simply leaning against his friend. The juxtaposition between the two childhood friends (Nagisa had finally asked Nakamura what their relationship is) is so great that it mostly makes Isogai look more perfect than normal and Maehara look more sloppy. "Somehow."

"Come on guys!" Isogai calls. "Let's go line up."

"Yes..." The class slowly comes to life, dragging themselves to the hall, for the dreaded discrimination.

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Most of the students of Kunugigaoka Junior High's third year are mingling, chatting and laughing and jeering at the E Class, the only class already lined up.

"Nagisa-san!" A nasally voice calls. Nagisa winces. Takada and Tanaka are standing together as usual, looking smug as they look over the E Class. Nagisa doesn't get why the two of them are so smug. Their marks are about the same level as hers. "Glad you could make it! Must have been tough coming down the mountain." The two boys burst into sniggers, walking away. Ducking her head, Nagisa stares at the floor. She wishes that she could skip with Karma, but if word got to her mother...

 _Bzzt._

 _Bzzt._

 _Bzzt._

Nagisa's eyes flick down to her waistcoat pocket, where her phone is, as always. Slowly, so as not to attract attention, she presses her index finger to the area where she knows the green answer button is. Karma doesn't say anything over the phone - it must be Karma, no one else calls her - and she doesn't speak up either, though she feels slightly calmer. This is their 'special' treatment after all. All she can do is grit her teeth and bear it.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

"In short, you are the cream of the crop - the nation's chosen elite!" The man on stage concludes, a giggle in his nasally voice. "I, your principal, guarantee it."

Nagisa hears a quiet snort from her waistcoat pocket.

"But if you're not careful," The principal's eyes slide over to the E Class. "You could wind up as useless as you-know-who."

Mean laughter fills the hall and Nagisa's eyes meet the floor. Times like this, she's glad she's small. Being awkwardly tall like Sugaya, who's standing behind her, must _really_ suck right now.

"Now, now," The grin in the principal's voice is obvious as he attempts to chastise them. "We mustn't laugh at their expense. I suppose my comment was out of line..."

"Nagisa?" Sugaya pokes her shoulder. "Where's Karma?"

Another snort from her phone. Nagisa hides a smile behind her hand. "He's skipping."

"Eh? Just him?" Sugaya asks in surprise.

A snicker from the device, now. "He knows he'll get punished, but he says he doesn't care. At times like this, I wish _I_ were an honor school bad boy," Nagisa admits.

"I hear ya."

Over the phone, Karma whisper-yells. "I heard that, Nagisa!"

"Shh..." Nagisa lowers her head even more in the pretense of humiliation so that she can better listen and speak into her phone.

"And please, why would you want to be me? You're much cuter."

"Shh."

"Are you shushing me, Nagisa?" Kayano, who's standing next to Nagisa, asks.

"Why would I shush you, Kayano?" Nagisa averts her eyes.

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"As usual, Mr Board Chairman, this method is effective!" A man rubs his hands together and bows to someone, the Board Chairman, who is seated in a plush swivel chair, facing the window. His hands are interlocked under his chin. "Thanks to this, our students acceptance into top universities - 3E aside - is extremely high!"

"This is preparation for the real world, so to speak," The Board Chairman murmurs, a live feed of what is happening in the hall playing on his desk. "This is our chance to instill in them the desire to avoid failure. It is unfortunate, but some people develop the most when they have others to look down upon."

"That makes sense!" The man agrees.

"I always act based on reason," The Board Chairman murmurs. "In administration and assassination alike, adhering to logic is all that matters."

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"We will now have a speech by the student council," A mechanical female voice narrates. "Please have the speakers begin their preparations."

"It's Karasuma-sensei!" Kayano says excitedly, elbowing Nagisa.

"Huh?" Nagisa turns her head and sees their physical education teaching making his way to a main campus teacher. A female one.

"Hello. I'm Karasuma, the E Class teacher." He bows to the teacher, who blushes like a schoolgirl.

"Who's that teacher?" A female student murmurs.

"He looks so stylish and cool!" Another says wistfully.

"As I work on a separate campus, I thought I would use the assembly as an opportunity to say hello," Karasuma continues, every bit professional.

"Uh...OK!" The female teacher gazes at Karasuma with soft, doey eyes, sweating like mad. Maybe she's nervous, Nagisa muses.

"Look, look, Nakamura," Nagisa hears Kurahashi giggle behind her.

"Oh?" Nakamura replies.

Then Karasuma sees something that makes his face so very...worried. Nagisa will use the word worried. And not ballistic. He's looking over to two rows behind her, where Nakamura and Kurahashi are standing. _What did they do?_ Nagisa turns slightly.

"Oh, Karasuma-sensei!" Nakamura says when she notices Karasuma staring at her. Nagisa sees something cute in Kurahashi's hand, and something sort of goth in Nakamura's. They're both similar in shape...oh. Their knife sheathes, Nagisa realises.

"Look! We decorated our sheathes!" Kurahashi beams.

"Cute, right?" Nakamura asks.

"Cute is all well and good," Karasuma marches up to the two girls, bending so that he's in level with them. "But don't pull them out in public!" Karasuma covers up the knife sheaths with his hands. "We absolutely cannot let the other classes find out about the assassination!"

"Okay..." The two girls are too busy blushing, however.

Nagisa giggles. It's ridiculous.

"Did you decorate yours?" Kayano whispers. "Your knife case."

"Oh..." Nagisa shakes her head. "No. I...well, I didn't. I suppose yours has pudding stickers on it?"

"Of course!"

"Who's that guy?" The murmurs begin again. "An E Class teacher?"

All from female students, Nagisa notes.

"They seem to get along well," someone whispers with evident jealousy.

"I'm kinda jealous. All the guys and teachers in our class are butt-ugly," The girl behind her mumbles.

"Like you're any better," Kayano whispers softly, making Nagisa smile. Kayano is surprisingly savage to people she dislikes, Nagisa realises. "Did their parents drop them at birth?"

The door to the hall is thrown open.

Nagisa turns to look and sees Bitch-sensei sashaying in, her blonde hair flapping in the breeze caused by the door. Every blonde strand has been rearranged perfectly, and her blue-green eyes seem to glow light green with a kind of ferocity. Not to mention, her shirt and skirt have been adjusted slightly to expose the maximum amount of skin without showing off too much.

Everyone in the hall, except the E class, is blushing. Both males and females seem entranced by Bitch-sensei. Bitch-sensei, for her part, is working up the appearance. She has her hands on her hips, her expression one of take-no-prisoners and she's sashaying into the room like no one's business.

"Who's that hot-ass white chick?" A male whispers.

"Did Bitch-sensei make an appearance?" Karma sniggers. Nagisa has to lift her phone out of her pocket to hear him, laughing and giving affirmation before returning the device to his pocket.

"Bitch-sensei was ready to drop just a minute ago, too," Sugino laughs.

Nagisa smiles as she recalls how the E Class entered the hall, leaving behind their fallen teacher, who had begged for them to wait for her.

They didn't, of course, even for Bitch-sensei, it wasn't worth being late.

Bitch-sensei shifts her hands to her hair, casually ruffling it slightly as she walks, causing it to trail after her.

"Vanity is in her veins, alright," Nagisa sighs.

"Is she an E Class teacher too?"

"That's kinda cool..."

The rumours fly around the hall as Bitch-sensei takes her place next to Karasuma, her hands clasped behind her back.

"What are you doing here?" Karasuma hisses.

"Don't give me that," Bitch-sensei gives Karasuma the stink eye. "I'm their teacher too...besides, I figured they could use the support."

"So you _do_ consider yourself their teacher?" Karasuma hides a small smile.

"Besides, I wanted to check out the other students," Bitch-sensei's eyes rove the crowd, only seeing lecherous young males leering at her. "Hardly worth the trip," She sighs, folding her arms. "Oh, right." Then, seeming to recall something, she begins to walk forward. "Nagisa!" She calls to the young girl.

Nagisa takes one look at Bitch-sensei and tries to hide behind Kayano.

"No, you're not getting away!" Bitch-sensei grabs her. "Now that we've ditched that octopus, I want to ask you something."

"Please no..." Nagisa whispers. "Kayano...Sugino...save me?"

"You're on your own, Nagisa," Sugino gives her a friendly pat on the shoulder.

"Fighto!" Kayano encourages.

"You've been keeping track of that octopus's weaknesses, right?" Bitch-sensei continues. "Let me borrow your notebook!" Nagisa takes one look at Bitch-sensei and knows that this woman will flip through the whole thing. Nope. She has had this notebook since primary school and used to use it to pass notes in class with Karma...well, Bitch-sensei doesn't need to see their old conversations. Those are private.

"What? But I already told you the ones that matter," Nagisa says honestly.

"Come on, you were just trying to hide the juicy stuff, weren't you?" Bitch-sensei weedles.

"No, I'm serious-"

"Come on, give it to me, kid!" Bitch-sensei pulls on Nagisa's shoulder, smushing her face into her breasts. "Don't make me smother you!" She says gleefully.

"Bitch-sensei!" Nagisa whines. "I can't breathe around your breasts! Let go before people think I'm lesbian!" She can hear Karma full on laughing over the phone line, and pouts.

Thankfully, Karasuma comes to her rescue, yanking on Bitch-sensei's hair and pulling her away, kicking and whining.

"All right!" The student council president at the front of stage says. "The printouts you all have just been given contain the information of the student council events."

"Huh? What?" Okajima looks at his empty hands, several of Class E mirroring his actions. "Where are ours?"

"Excuse me, sir," Isogai winces as he calls the student council 'sir' Nagisa notes. "Class E didn't receive any handouts."

"Oh? You didn't get any? I'm sorry..." The student council president fakes concern. "It looks like we forgot to make enough copies for you! I guess you'll have to memorise the whole thing before you leave!"

The hall erupts with laughter.

"But hey, you and your class could stand to sharpen your memorisation skills!" The student council president laughs.

"What the hell?" Bitch-sensei whispers hotly. "Could he be any more sadistic?" Nagisa is taken aback because Bitch-sensei seems to actually care for them. She takes a step forward when there's a huge whirl of wind filling the hall.

A sheaf of paper slowly flies into Nagisa's hands. Glancing around her class, she realises that everyone has one too.

"Isogai-kun," Comes a familiar voice. the E Class looks to the teachers, where a large peach-skinned man with a grey floppy mop for hair and gloves on his wriggly...arms stands next to Karasuma and Bitch-sensei, twirling a pen expertly on the tip of his finger. It's Korosensei, in his human guise.

"What are you-" Karasuma begins to say.

"Now, does everyone have a handwritten copy?" Korosensei asks.

"Yes, sir," Isogai nods, before calling out to the stage again. "We received our handouts! Please continue!"

"What?! No...no way! How?!" The student council president splutters. "Hey, who ruined our fun?" He scowls, before seeming to realise what he had just said. "I...er, I mean...Let us continue. Now, take a look at the upcoming student council schedule. The student council will..."

"I explicitly told you not to show yourself to the rest of the school!" Karasuma scolds Korosensei. "Your very existence is a state secret, you know!"

"I still dislike that octopus, but I guess that was nice of him," Karma sighs over the phone line. " _Why_ must we have such a nice teacher. I can't punch him, you know." Nagisa nods idly, forgetting that he can't see her.

"Oh, come on," Korosensei weedles. "My disguise is flawless. No one will ever know!"

"He must have gotten lonely," Nagisa giggles into her palm. Next to her, Kayano too is laughing, especially since Korosensei uses the pen he's spinning to scratch himself in the most random places.

"The itching powder was genius," Sugino whispers.

"Why thank you, I _am_ rather smart, aren't I?" Karma says. Nagisa lifts her phone out of her pocket so that she can reply.

"Please stop speaking inappropriately, Karma..."

"Is that your phone, Nagisa?" Sugaya asks. "Hurry and put it away! They're looking in our direction."

"Yes, yes..."

"Whoa, where did that teacher come from?" The other students whisper.

"He seems kinda big...and floppy."

"That's one way to put it, I guess," Kayano rolls her eyes. "I guess that their elite brains are too busy short-circuiting to think of a better word."

"Kayano!" Kataoka turns around to look at the green-haired girl, seeming surprised that the normally sweet Kayano is saying things like that. Karma is snort-chortling over the phone.

"She's always like this if she doesn't like people," Nagisa explains, smiling tightly. Looking back at the teachers, Nagisa notices that Bitch-sensei is inching behind Korosensei, looking determined. Then, she swings her knife at him, only for him to dodge, the smile still on his face. They carry on like that for a bit.

"And that other teacher's attacking him all of a sudden!" The other student seem surprised and Nagisa remembers that it's not in the social norm for everyone to try and kill their teacher. This only makes her smile.

"Is she trying to _stab_ him?"

Karasuma grabs Bitch-sensei's thick hair and pins her wrist behind her back, leading her out the door.

"Ow, that _hurts_!" Bitch-sensei whines. Korosensei waves as Karasuma and Bitch-sensei take their leave.

"And now she's being taken away."

"I don't get it."

The main campus students are getting more and more confused and it makes Nagisa want to laugh.

"Typical Bitch-sensei," Maehara comments, smiling.

Nagisa cracks up, but so do the rest of her class.

For the first time, the E Class enjoys an assembly.

 _It will not be the last._

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"Nagisa!" Sugino and Kayano wave at her. "We're going ahead, OK?" They're both glancing nervously around the courtyard, and Nagisa doesn't blame them. The main campus students enjoy picking on any leftover E Student after assembly.

"Yeah! I'll catch up to you guys after I buy a drink!" Nagisa waves back, turning to the vending machine. After buying chrysanthemum tea and a strawberry milk juice box, Nagisa collects her purchases and starts to turn away.

"Hey, Nagisa," Tanaka snarls. Nagisa jumps. She hadn't noticed them behind her.

"Don't you think you guys are gettin' too big for your britches?" Takada snaps.

"Huh?" Nagisa tries to look innocent, like 'Who, me?'.

"Laughin' during assembly and stuff," Takada and Tanaka step closer. "How about learning some respect? You E Class losers should just keep your heads down where they belong. What, with your crappy lives weighin' you down and all," Nagisa resists the urge to correct them from dropping all their 'g's. "Hey, what's with that dirty look?" Tanaka seizes her by her collar, lifting her up. Nagisa remains mute, but she can hear the other students giggling and snorting. They missed their chance to see the E Class mocked during assembly, but now they will cling to their entertainment. Maybe Tanaka and Takada think they sound cooler when they drop all the 'g's.

"This damn school," Just exiting the hall, Karasuma sees the small blue-haired girl being cornered. As he's moving to intervene, Korosensei grabs Karasuma's shoulder.

"None of the students trying to assassinate me," Korosensei's face is green striped peach. _Subtle, veeerrrrryyyy subtle._ "Would ever let students like that get the better of them," His fake nose slides off.

Meanwhile, Tanaka and Takada keep up their verbal abuse.

"You dumb in more ways than one? Say something!" Tanaka shakes her. "Or do you want me to..." He smirks. "Kill you?"

 _Kill?_ Nagisa starts, finally giving them a reaction that they want. _Kill...?_ She lowers her head only slightly, meeting Tanaka's eyes, a shadow crossing her face. ' _Kill', huh_ , she feels a slow smile overtake her face. "As if you've ever tried to kill someone before," She says in a low voice, her blue eyes shining out with murderous intent in them. She releases her bloodlust, letting Tanaka and Takada feel just enough to make them back away.

It works.

The two boys let out 'Eep's and drop her back to her feet, where she casually walks past them, entering the thick foliage of the woods.

 _Kill, huh?_

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"See?" Korosensei glances down at Karasuma. "My students are much more...motivated!"

 _Well, that's one way to put in..._ Karasuma stares after the blue-haired girl. _What on earth was that bloodlust? It felt controlled...professional._

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 _E class...The End Class is shoving aside everyone who gets in their way. But that's not how we do things, not in my school._ The board chairman regards the footage of the back courtyard. _It seems that I will have to make a few changes...The assassination can wait._ This _is my top priority now..._

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Nagisa makes her way to the mountain campus, carrying the two drinks. She had already finished hers, but there are no dustbins on the mountain, after all. She'll have to wait until she got to the E Campus.

Walking over to the courtyard that they use for Physical Education, Nagisa moves to the grassy hill leading down to it. As she thought, a certain redhead was lying on the grass, earphones on, seemingly fast asleep.

"I brought you strawberry milk," Nagisa sits down, passing Karma the juice box.

Karma's golden eyes snap open, and he glances at Nagisa. "Thanks," He accepts it, puncturing the little aluminum circle with his straw.

"How do you drink that lying down?" Nagisa asks, pulling her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. She watches Karma drain the box before he places it next to him, where there are four other juice boxes. "Did you drink _all_ that?"

"Thirsty," Karma closes his eyes.

Nagisa plays with the grass blades, twisting them. "So...um..."

"Are you going to stay with me?" Karma asks.

"Maybe. I've packed my bag, but I need to make sure mother's alright with it."'

"Please. She won't even notice," The grass blade snaps in Nagisa's fingers.

"But what if she does..."

"Did you bring your bag to school?"

"Y-Yeah?"

"Then just follow me home after school. I get my mother to call that woman. It'll be fine like that, you know that woman's gunning for my money."

"I'm not dating you for your money," Nagisa feels slightly hurt as she drops the now-dead grass blade. "You know that, right."

In one fluid motion, Karma's sitting up and his lips are on her own, her hands on her shoulders, pulling her to him, surprising her.

"Oh, um..." Nagisa blinks when he pulls away. Her cheeks are stupidly red, even though it was just a light brush of the lips. "Uh..."

Karma kisses her again and again, on her lips, on her forehead, on her cheeks, on her shoulders, on her neck, on her lips again...Nagisa just smiles, wrapping her arms loosely around his shoulders and enjoying Karma's sudden show of affection.

"Alright, I'll stay with you for the rest of hell week," Nagisa runs her fingers through Karma's red hair.

"Good. Mother and Father brought gelato. The good kind from Italy," Karma rests his head on Nagisa's shoulder. "Oh, they'll be home, by the way. Did I mention?"

"W-What?!"

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 **Not in the mood to reply to reviews *melts on table* But hey, i'll force myself since I feel a little better after writing...(sorry for the lackluster feelings in advance)**

 **Review Repliesssss: (From a bummed out weirdo)**

 _ **Jae [On Chapter 2]:** Thank you for your nice words :) _

_**Guest (On Chapter 3):** Well, this chapters longer than the last by 3K roughly :) Hope you enjoyed the last chapter, and that you liked this one too ^^_

 ** _LucidClockword:_** _Well I would love to put in other pairings, so if you guys have any requests, just ask :P I definitely want to put in Chiba x Hayami and I kinda ship Isogai and Maehara, as well as Yada and Kataoka, but I guess I'll just see what people want (I should put up a formal_

 _*Brings recorder* must record this opera tone!_

 ** _Amaya_ _Kuruta:_** _Yes, Kayano was a little petty in the first season, sweet, but petty and childish at times, so :P_

 _Yep, Irina got both Nagisa and Karma, lucky lady :0 Thank you for liking the extra story! I wrote it with my friend because we were trying out pick up lines on each other for fun and kept responding in the sassiest ways we could, then she started screaming 'Karmagisa!'...we were on the train. It was peak hour._ Annnnyyywaayyy _, that's how the extra story came *draws a feeble rainbow in the air*_

 ** _Xenocanaan:_** _Well, here you have more :)_

 ** _GingerHale:_** _Nah, you didn't upset me. I was a_ leeetle _frantic because OOC-ness is sometimes a story bye-bye, but I'm glad that it suits them :) Isn't Irina pretty cool? I found it funny how she's the fifth most popular character in the first popularity poll! I thought that she would get third :P Thank you for liking my fic and wow, you need some sleep *half-throws blankets*_

 _ **Shiranai Atsune** : I'm glad :)_

 ** _Danget the critic:_** _Well, thank you very much :3 I was trying to keep it close to the anime_ and _manga, but I'm kinda trash so I just flung Karma and Nagisa stuff in because tbh, they're SSOOOOOO CUTTEEE TOGETHER (oops, sorry!) And well, thank you for your review :) I'll keep trying to add Karmagisa in the thing and more scenes ^^_

 _though I keep staring at your profile picture;;_

 ** _Aipom4_** _: Thank you for your review! Also, your profile picture is really cute^^_

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 _Extras:_

 **(BECAUSE I JUST DISCOVERED THAT THERE WAS A QUESTION IN MY PAPER THAT I DIDN'T DO [Gawd!] and so you have this, written at Mach speed to try and cheer myself up {Then I'll go study, sigh}** **)**

 _Nagisa's first day in Karma's house:_

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"Karma, do you have crackers?"

"Yes, they're in the fridge," Karma is sprawled on the couch, playing his PS Vita. Hearing Nagisa move around in the kitchen, he decides to be more specific. "The red fridge! I'm not supposed to touch the golden fridge!"

"Is it made from gold?" Nagisa asks, and Karma hears the sound of a fridge opening. "Oh, do you have shredded cheese and chocolate sauce?"

Wondering what on _earth_ Nagisa is doing, Karma sits up a little. "Yeah, cheese is in the pale yellow fridge, there's cheddar, mozzarella, parmesan...just take whatever. Chocolate is in the small one with candy print on it. You can use anything you want from whichever fridge, just don't touch the gold one. It's gold plated and my parents will kill me if you do."

There's silence for about five minutes, before the smell of melting cheese fills the air.

"Do you have seaweed?" Nagisa's head pokes around the kitchen door. Pausing his game, Karma stands and walks to the kitchen.

"It's in the pantry. Nagisa, _what_ are you making, because-" Karma freezes when he sees Nagisa's concoction. It's a bunch of cracker crumbs stacked up in a pile, with melted cheese nearly drowning it and chocolate sauce drizzled in large amounts over it. "Nagisa what is that?"

"The filling," Nagisa calls from the pantry. "I'm going to make some sushi for my dinner!"

"Nagisa, that is not a filling for sushi. That is an atrocity of cooking. I'm going to make you some unagi instead."

Nagisa reappears with box of seaweed in her hand, a frown on her face. "But I like this."

"How did you even discover something like this?" Karma's nose wrinkles as he picks up the plate of...cracker cheese things, following Nagisa as she walks to his dining table.

"My dad used to make it, and I liked it, sooooo," Nagisa grins, placing the seaweed down. To Karma's surprise, there's actually a rice cooker sitting on the table, with rice inside. "You don't have to eat it, you know," Nagisa says, uncovering the rice cooker and opening the seaweed box. And she actually makes sushi with it. "It's my meal."

Karma doesn't know how to react, so he just watches, pulling Nagisa's hair out of her twintails and playing with the silky blue locks, silently swearing that he'll never let Nagisa cook for him.

The front door is thrown open.

"Karma!" A woman's voice calls in english. His mother. "Come down, my precious son!" Karma grimaces, he was in the middle of something _important_ , jeez.

"Go on," Nagisa pokes Karma. "You're not doing much here anyway."

"I am. I'm watching you butcher the meaning of sushi."

"Karma where are you?!" A male's voice this time, in french. His father. "We're home, and we brought your gelato."

"I'm in the dining hall!" Karma calls back in english, casting Nagisa a cocky smile when she starts, seemingly surprised at his fluency. His parents and him usually speak in English at home, anyway. "Don't throw open the door!"

His mother throws it open anyway, the large double doors colliding against the once-beautiful walls and sticking there. _Great_ , Karma thinks sarcastically. _Just brilliant_. She enters the room in a dignified manner, however, stepping in and placing her bags by the door before disappearing down the stairs, her blonde hair trailing after her. _Yes, their dining room is on the second floor._ Nagisa doesn't seem bothered by his mother's strange behaviour - calling for her son only to instantly leave the room he is in - instead beginning to chop her sushi. Karma's father enters a little later, dropping his bags by the room door as well, passing Karma a cooler bag.

"I'll be in my study," He says, giving Nagisa a slight nod when she waves at him. "Your mother will be in shortly."

"Bye," Karma doesn't bothering looking as his father leaves the room, preferring to play with Nagisa's hair.

Sure enough, his mother renters the room, shaking out her hair. "The humid air in madrid was horrible for my hair," She sighs.

"Is Madrid humid?" Karma asks.

"Yes, it was terrible!" His mother laments, pausing when she sees Nagisa, switching into Japanese. "Oh, hello, Nagisa."

"Hi, Mrs Akabane," Nagisa gives a little finger wave, piling her sushi onto the plate. "Where's the chocolate sauce?"

"You want _more_?!" Karma stares at Nagisa's little sushi. "No way, I can _see_ the chocolate oozing out!"

Nagisa pouts, then looks back at Karma's mother. "Is it alright if I stay over here a while?" She asks picking at her food slightly. To soothe her, Karma splits her hair into two parts, beginning to braid one section.

"Sure, more than one day?" Nagisa nods. "I'll call your mother, alright?" Karma's mother laughs. "Well, you two better not do anything, though. You may be long time friends, but you're dating now, so the rules are different."

"What rules?" Karma blinks blankly, twisting Nagisa's hair into braids.

"just basic stuff," Karma's mother suddenly has his father's and her own bags in her arm, starting out of the door again. "Like, don't take it further than making out, keep clothes on, your father put sneezing powder on your bed-"

"HEY!" Karma's father calls from his room. "You _said_ you weren't going to tell him." He almost sounds childish, and that makes Karma laugh.

"Well, I did because Nagisa is staying over and you both never consider her, or me, for that matter, when you are having your prank wars," His mother retorts, disappearing upstairs before coming down again, carrying belgian chocolate in her hands. "For you, Karma," She tosses it over, going to the kitchen. "Anything you want to eat?"

"Anything but sushi with crackers and cheese and chocolate sauce."

There is a pause, then Karma's mother comes out of the kitchen. "Come again?"

"He said he wants to cook on his own," Nagisa covers Karma's mouth, shooting him a _look_. "He likes his own meals best, Mrs Akabane."

"Well, that makes sense," Karma's mother retreats into the kitchen, and Karma sighs. Releasing Nagisa's hair, the braid falling apart, he stands, starting into the kitchen. "I'm going to make cookies or brownies, if you want to help or want something else, into the kitchen in three."

"You want lava cake, Nagisa?" Karma asks.

"If it's not any trouble..."

"If you don't want it, I'm eating it all!"

"You'll get fat!" Karma's mother interrupts.

"Like I care!"

"OK, Lava cake sounds great," Nagisa cuts in before the mother-son duo can get into a fight. "Is that alright with you, Mrs Akabane?"

"Of course!" Karma's mother immediately agrees.

"Your showing favouritism, mother," Karma hisses.

"It's not my fault your girlfriend is adorable!"

"Mother, you're _married._ Stop hitting on my girlfriend."

"I'm not."

" _Righttttttttt_."

"Shut up."

" _You_ shut up."

Silence...

"Pass me the cocoa, please mother."

" _I'm_ using it."

"For the past like, hour."

"As if."

"If you two fight I'm breaking the window," Nagisa threatens.

"Not the window!" Karma cries sarcastically.

"I have your PS Vita in my hand and an antique vase in the other. I'm standing next to the window overlooking the pool," Nagisa clarifies. "I will be throwing the two items out of the window if you two continue fighting."

There is another silence.

"Damn, you're good, Nagi," Karma curses under his breath, waiting for his mother to finish with the cocoa powder before she hands it to him.

 _There is peace in the house after that -_

Until Karma's father comes in from his study.

"Why is Nagisa holding onto the antique vase we bought from Italy and playing Karma's PS Vita?"

"Oh, hello Mr Akabane. It's actually a long story..."

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 **So that's the extras and it's been four hours since my papers (should probably be studying but hey) and quick question:**

 **Does anyone have any pairings that they want to see in here? Besides the obvious Karmagisa, naturally XD**


	6. Chapter 6

**MY EXAMS ARE OVER! YESSSSS  
**

 **So yeah this was a little late *ahem* Four days late *ahem* Sorry :P**

 **So i'm making it my private sort of goal to fluff as much as I can. Or everything.**

 **OH WARNINGS: Slightly more vivid kiss scenes *coughs awkwardly into fist* Seems like when I'm super happy I get...descriptive...and uh, it's chapter 6? Maybe some weirdness as usual lol**

 **If I can't fluff everything...well, as an apology before hand:**

 **(Basically just deleted scenes because they didn't fit in with the story and they were kinda boring and also they were strangely romancy (LOL SORRY XD)**

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 _A night at the Akabane's_

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 _Dinner:_

 _(YEEEEAAAHHHH The descriptive kiss thing is in here so don't read if you can't tolerate people swapping spit because i don't know. I just felt like it)_

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"Do you like dinner, Nagisa-chan?" Mrs Akabane asks Nagisa cheerfully.

Picking at her strangely red plate, Nagisa attempts a smile. "Well, I've never eaten this before, Mrs Akabane..."

"We flew to Italy, see? Before we went to Spain." Mrs Akabane clarifies. "And they had the most delicious pasta there. What you're eating now is spinach and cheese ravioli in tomato sauce." Nagisa's eye widen and she stares at the weirdly red plate. _What the heck is ravioli?! It just looks like puffed up square pastas doused in tomato sauce!_ Next to Nagisa, Karma chokes on his drink, laughing as liquid flies out of his mouth when he coughs.

"Manners," Mr Akabane scolds his son, and is Nagisa's eyes deceiving her or did he just steal a piece of Karma's ravioli...?!

Karma straightens, and Nagisa's ninety percents sure that he didn't have a monogrammed handkerchief in his hand two seconds ago. Karma uses the handkerchief to dab at his mouth, smirking at his father the whole time. Mr Akabane looks amused, holding a drink that isn't his...and suddenly Nagisa's drink is in Karma's hand and what is going on...? The utensils are shifting around, and Nagisa's plate is suddenly filled with cheese...

"Behave you two," Mrs Akabane scolds. "Or at least leave Nagisa-chan out of this."

"Yeah, yeah," Karma dismisses his mother's words easily, tossing a fork to his father. Wait, isn't that her fork...? What are they doing...? Naigsa narrows her eyes slightly and after watching for a bit longer now, she sees what's happening.

Karma and his father had started out swiping each other's stuff, shifting utensils and plate arrangements to confuse each other. When they had run out of things to rearrange, they had started involving Nagisa's dining items as well, the utensils hopping from her to across the table, where Mr Akabane is sitting, to Karma, sitting next to her. Every minute, the layout of their food has a new pattern from the last. Nagisa's head hurts as she tries to keep up with everything, because _goodness knows_ she's not going to accidentally use someone else's silverware. Finally giving up, Nagisa picks up a spoon, and examines it closely. After concluding that it can't possibly be Mr or Mrs Akabane's spoon, she uses it. At best, it's her own. At worse, she's using Karma's spoon. At any rate, there's a fifty-fifty chance of it being her own, and she'll take those odds. It's not like she'll contract some kind of disease from it.

"Nagisa~" Karma simmers. Nagisa groans, already anticipating Karma's next teasing words, since it's likely that she just used his spoon. Instead, Karma grabs Nagisa's chin and tilts her head towards his, kissing her deeply. Nagisa's is pretty sure that Karma and her haven't kissed with tongue before, but he's definitely trying to right now, judging from the way he's nibbling her lower lip (Who knows, maybe this is prompted by some Karma-like jealousy because Bitch-sensei frenched Nagisa).

"Karma, we're in front of your parents," Nagisa hisses, pulling away slightly.

"Don't care. You grew up in Europe. My parents are Euro-Japanese. They're definitely more tolerant of making out at the table," Karma captures her lips again and works her lower lip into his mouth, suckling and nibbling until Nagisa finally parts her lips and wow...Nagisa's eyes widen as Karma slips his tongue in. Swallowing thickly, she closes her eyes, gripping the armrests of the chair she's sitting on as he leisurely explores the inside of her mouth. Karma tastes like a little bit of saliva and the tomato paste that was part of their dinner. Nagisa moves her grip from the armrests of her seat to Karma's arms, sighing softly when he gently strokes her tongue with his. His hands release her chin, and Karma wraps his arms around Nagisa.

 _Clap._

The jarring clap starts both Karma and Nagisa, who pull apart slightly, Karma with an annoyed expression and Nagisa panting heavily.

"While it's nice to see my son interact with his girlfriend, you might want to stop because your mother is going crazy," Mr Akabane coughs lightly. Next to him, Mrs Akabane has her phone out and pointed at the two teenagers, and she's shaking her husband's arm as Karma holds Nagisa.

"Don't interrupt, that was very good," Mrs Akabane beams. "I almost want to post it on insta-HEY!" Mr Akabane snatches her phone, making a few taps on the screen.

"Deleted."

"EH?!"

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 _Sleeping arrangements:_

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"Am I sleeping in here?" Nagisa asks. She and Karma are in his room, both in their sleep wear (an oversized while sweater for Nagisa, with a blue tank top underneath and leggings, a random top and shorts for Karma). Karma is sitting on his bed, his legs stretched out, back against the wall, humming as he plays a game on his Nintendo 3DS. Nagisa sits between his legs, half using Karma as a chair, reading, or rather, trying to understand a book by Murakami when she suddenly realises the problem. Karma's room, while two or three times larger than her bedroom at home, only has one giant bed (and Nagisa isn't going to share it with him), a kotatsu (but without the blanket), a study table and a closet. The rest of the room is just emptiness on tatami flooring.

"Yeah, you can take the bed," Karma's fingers are rapidly pressing the buttons of his DS. Nagisa wonders what game he's playing.

"No, I'll go get a futon. It's still in the hall closet, right?" Nagisa places her open book facedown on Karma's knee, standing.

"Get me one too."

Nagisa sighs. "No, because you'll be sleeping on your bed."

"No, get me one because I'll be sleeping on the floor too."

"Karma, you have a bed-"

"Covered in my shit," Karma gestures to his queen-sized bed, eyes still focused on his DS, near _completely_ covered in study guides and game manuals, a few out-of-place things, like a spool of some transparent-like string and a box that screams 'fragile', scattered randomly among the pile. "Can't sleep here, so just bring me a set - OH SHIT!" Karma shrieks, his hands rapidly jamming on the buttons of his DS again.

Sighing, Nagisa gives in.

When she returns to Karma's room, her hands filled with bedsheets and pillows and what-not, Karma is still desperately pressing all the buttons, occasionally tapping the screen with his stylus. Nagisa's book is somewhere on Karma's pile of stuff, presumably knocked off the redhead's knee as he played his game. Shaking her head at her boyfriend, Nagisa begins setting up the futons. The room is silent for a good while.

"Damn it. I lost," Karma groans, shutting his DS and tossing it onto his pillow. "Oh, you're lining mine against yours?" When Karma says that, only then does Nagisa notice that she's placed both futons perfectly next to each other, the sides of the mattresses practically overlapping.

"Should I have not?" She furrows her brows. After all, in the past, when she and Karma had sleepovers, they always lined their futons against each other. Perhaps it is different, now that they're grown up.

"Nah, it's fine," Karma grins and joins her on the floor. For a second, Nagisa sees the mischievous look in his eyes, but it's enough for her to know that Karma is planning something. "Want to sleep together?"

Nagisa's face heats up and she scrambles away from him, her mind going nuts. "Karma! We're not even fifteen yet! Don't say stupid things like that, Karma, we're too young to-"

"In the same bed," Karma smirks, grabbing Nagisa's wrists and pulling her to him. "What are you thinking, then? My room can get _pretty_ cold sometimes. Could use the warmth, huh?" Nagisa pouts as Karma laughs. "What were you thinking, hm? Illicit things?" Instead of replying, Nagisa continues to pout. "Come on, I'm only teasing," Karma kisses Nagisa's fingers a few times before she finally stops pouting, then he smirks and pulls her onto his lap, so that her legs are wrapped around his waist. Leaning forward, Karma captures Nagisa's lips again. "Let's continue from where we left off in the dining room," Karma says softly, one hand of his lightly holding her chin, the other on the small of her back. Nagisa's eyes flutter shut as Karma's tongue slides into her mouth, and she's hyper aware of her heart beating _soo_ fast and loudly. She can hear it. Her hands go to Karma's hair, running through and lightly tugging the slightly coarse locks. Karma seems pleased by this, as he makes a small sort of... _sound_ into her mouth, something that makes her feel weirdly tingly. His tongue begins moving, lightly stroking against hers...he tastes a little different now, somehow sweeter and a lot more - _oh._ Nagisa grip falls to Karma's shoulders, because _wow,_ he's surprisingly good at this. His tongue licks the back of her teeth and her fingers tighten around his shoulders as she mewls softly, sucking on his tongue gently. Karma smirks against her lips and pulls her closer, his hands shifting to her hair, carding his fingers through it. As they continue, Nagisa has to physically remind herself to _breathe_ because, well, because.

When they finally break away, there's a string of saliva connecting their lips. Karma bats it away without a second thought.

"This is part of the reason why it's unlawful for a girl to sleep at her boyfriend's house," Nagisa mumbles, swallowing thickly a few times.

Karma's laugh is rich. "Well, think of it as...as _practising_. Remember Bitch-sensei was teaching us about the kiss of death thing?"

"I don't think you need anymore practice in that field," Nagisa rests her head against Karma's shoulder, quietly breathing in the scent of...of strawberries, for some reason. Karma laughs again and Nagisa can actually _feel_ it, rumbling and low.

"Let's carry on anyway," Karma says breezily, and Nagisa smiles against his shoulder.

"Fine by me," She moves so that she can look into his eyes and smiles again, all innocent. "I could use the practice."

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 _Chapter 6:_

 _Wait...TOP 50?! (Are you insane? No? Just checking.)_

 ** _OR_**

 _Exam time_

 **AND**

 _Sovereign Time_

 _ **Also**_

 _Spinning time_

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"NAGISA! OH MY GOD YOU HAVE GOT TO WAKE UP RIGHT NOW, I THINK MY MOTHER IS BUTCHERING THE FINE ART OF FRENCH TOAST!" A loud scream wakes Nagisa up.

"H-huh?" Nagisa blinks her eyes open, wincing at the bright light filling the room.

"Wake up, Nagisa! I have to run down to the kitchen to correct her, but I don't want to knock your head off my lap and cause you brain damage or something." It's Karma who's shouting. _What's going on...?_

"...Lap?" Nagisa rubs her eyes slowly.

"Yes, we were doing homework last night, remember? And you fell asleep in the middle of reading the english passage to - Oh my god she's putting cloves in, I can smell them. Nagisa, please wake up faster. Cloves should not go in with french toast. Chocolate or cinnamon and nutmeg is fine, but not cloves."

"Aren't we on a different floor?" Nagisa lifts her head from whatever it is she's lying on, trying to simultaneously rub and blink the sleep out of her eyes. _What time is it?_ She wonders.

"I can smell it! Go get ready for school and come down whenever," Karma disappears out of the door.

 _Come down whenever?_ Nagisa already misses being in the arms of slumber. _Maybe after a short nap..._

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"I can't believe you slept through the argument I had with my mother," Karma sighs as he and Nagisa walk to the train station. "We were being super loud." Karma glances at Nagisa, who looks embarrassed. "And you had an extra half hour of sleep." Nagisa hangs her head. "And we had to rush out of the house for school." Karma hands her a napkin, still warm french toast inside. "Now we have to eat on the go," Karma has his own breakfast in his hand. Accepting the toast, Nagisa bows her head in apology.

"I'm sorry..."

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The bell tolls.

"Now class, shall we begin?" Korosensei begins the day by splitting into several of himself, presumably by using his speed.

"Begin what?" The class stares at the multiples of Korosensei.

"The time has come for midterms!" Korosensei crows. _Wait, what?_ Nagisa's eyes widen. _Already?!_ "And that's why I've set aside this period for my..." There's a slight pause here, presumably for tension's sake, before Korosensei and his...multiples chorus together. "Special supersonic exam cram class! SSECC for short, nurufufufufufu..."

"Uh..." Nagisa glances over her shoulder, to Karma, who looks amused.

Then Korosensei's multiples split up suddenly, one in front of each student. "My afterimages can work with you one-on-one," Korosensei says, flickering around. "To provide individually targeted revision for your weakest subjects."

"This is just dumb," Terasaka growls from the back of the class, looking disinterested as he gazes somewhere to his left. "He even switches headbands for each subject." Terasaka looks up at the afterimage that just appeared in front of him, then falters. "HEY! WHY DO I HAVE A NARUTO ONE?!"

"Yours is a special curriculum, Terasaka-kun," Korosensei explains. "You're weak in multiple subjects, after all."

Nagisa watches with some interest, silently tallying up all the after images. _Korosensei is just getting faster, isn't he? Six Japanese...eight Math...three Social Studies...four Science...four English and one Naruto...He's managed to split up enough to cover every student, but it wasn't long ago that he could only handle four or_ _five images._

The Korosensei image's face in front of Nagisa suddenly caves in on one side, making a little "Nyuya!" sound. Nagisa jumps, nearly falling out of her seat.

"No sneak assassinations, if you please, Karma-kun!" Korosensei scolds. Nagisa turns and sees Karma holding a knife in front of him, sticking out his tongue. _Geez..._ "Dodging interferes with my ability to maintain steady images!"

"These afterimages are rather sensitive and delicate..." Nagisa notes. _So_ _shouldn't it be tiring?_ "But, Korosensei, doesn't it exhaust you to keep them all up?"

"Worry not, Nagisa-san," Korosensei reassures. "I have one afterimage relaxing outside."

"Won't that tire you out more?!"

 _But with this drastic increase in capabilities...Korosensei is probably preparing to blow up the earth next year...No matter how you slice it, he's a real pain to have as_ _a target..._

"Have you understood everything so far, Nagisa-san?" Korosensei asks.

Nagisa glances down at her notes.

"Yes."

 _But with exams looming...It's really great to have him as a teacher._

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School's over.

"Hey, Nagisa! A new ice cream shop opened up in town! Want to go?" Kayano immediately asks the blue-haired girl.

"Please say yes," Sugino begs, joining the two girls.

"Uh, Kayano, we have class duty today?" Nagisa reminds the green-haired girl. "And Sugino, didn't you have plans with Maehara and Okajima?"

"Yes, but I don't want to go with them," Sugino admits. "They want to go girl hunting."

"Just ask Karma to go with," Kayano rolls her eyes. "Even they won't be too pervy around him. Or ask Takebayashi to go instead of you."

"Why Takebayashi?" Nagisa glances at the mentioned boy. Takebayashi Koutarou, a boy with thick glasses, dark hair combed over the sides of his head and...actually, Nagisa doesn't know his eye colour, strangely.

"He's an Otaku," Kayano says as though it explains everything.

"Huh?"

"Can't you two bail me out?" Sugino begs.

"Karma!" Nagisa calls. Sugino flinches, shaking his head rapidly at her. When the redhead moves over to them, head tilted questioningly, Nagisa decides to not be so cruel to Sugino, since he's so against Karma joining him, making up a reason for calling him over. "Kayano and I have duty today-"

"Eh? Really? Well, call me when you're done," Karma grins.

"Sugino," Kayano hisses, elbowing the boy.

"OK, OK..." Sugino grumbles. "Hey, Karma-kun?"

"Hmm? You're Sugino, right?" Karma asks. "Nagisa's friend...the baseball guy."

"Er, yeah."

"Sugino," Kayano elbows him again. "You're not asking him on a date, jeez!" She whispers. Nagisa giggles when she hears Kayano's words. _Should she bail him_ _out...?_ Nagisa's eyes fall on Nakamura, somewhere behind Karma, laughing with Fuwa and Kurahashi.

"Nakamura-san, Fuwa-san," Nagisa waves her over. "Can I ask you guys a favour?"

"Sure, as long as you have something to pay back with," Nakamura readily agrees, the two girls making their way over. Kurahashi waves at them before joining Kataoka, Hayami and Okano, the four of them leaving the classroom.

"Maehara-kun and Okajima-kun want to pollute Sugino's mind," Nagisa explains. "Could you maybe-"

"You're asking _Nakamura?!_ " Sugino yelps, cutting Nagisa off mid-sentence. "And _Fuwa?!"_

"Why not? Nakamura-san is very smart," Nagisa blinks cluelessly at Sugino, who looks more worried than ever. "And Fuwa is pretty spontaneous, so I thought..."

"They're just as bad as Maehara and Okajima!"

"What do you mean?" Fuwa protests. "We are _not_!"

"Got it, Nagisa," Nakamura grabs onto Sugino's arms. "Come on, Baseball! Let's go window-shopping for girls!" As she drags the poor Sugino away, Nakamura calls over her shoulder. "Wanna come Karma? You can gaze at all the small girls."

"Eh?" Karma waves at Nagisa and follows after the blonde. "That makes me sound like some kind of lolli*."

"Not _that_ kind of small. I definitely don't want to have to tell Nagisa that you were checking out little kids," Nakamura replies. "Hey, Maehara, Okajima! I'm coming with you two. So's Karma and Fuwa."

"Err..." Kayano and Nagisa trade awkward smiles as the group of five people walk away. "That could have gone better?" Kayano sighs.

"Poor Sugino," Nagisa agrees. "Maybe we should help him?"

"Nah, he could use the exposure," Kayano says with an evil glint in her hazel eyes. "This is revenge for him eating my pudding!"

"Kayano, it's just pudding."

"Nagisa, it's _my_ pudding. Like if someone were to eat your sushi."

"Uh, I'm not as fond of sushi as you are of pudding...?"

"Whatever. Sugino ate my pudding. The nice one that I bought from downtown and saved for almost a week before I found an occasion special enough to eat it...AND HE ATE IT!" Kayano wails. "So now he must pay."

"Uh...ok..." Nagisa shakes her head, trying not to think too much into Kayano and her puddings. "Let's get started, then we can finish earlier."

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"Whoa, that took shorter than I thought!" Kayano says cheerfully as the two girls start out of the classroom.

"Well, we only had to sweep," Nagisa points out.

"And dust. And clean the board. And air the classroom-"

"We didn't have to do that."

"But I wanted to."

As they walk past the staff room, Nagisa hears Korosensei's voice, sounding like he's trying to be persuasive. "And would you be so good as to consider a slight raise in my salary? I've added a few more afterimages in my lineup, you see."

 _Korosensei weak point #6: He sucks up to his superiors_

"Let's listen in!" Kayano whispers excitedly, yanking on Nagisa's arm. Nagisa obligues, mostly because she's curious too. The door of the staff room is open a crack, and Nagisa and Kayano peep in.

Sitting on a chair is a man with neatly combed rust brown hair and violet eyes, his legs crossed as he demurely sits, Korosensei moving about around him, giving him a shoulder massage...pouring him tea... Nagisa recognises him as Asano Gakuhou, the Board Chairman of Kunugigaoka Junior High. "I must apologise," Asano says, cutting off Korosensei's 'casual' question on his salary. "I'd meant to come and pay my respects sooner." He stands, facing Korosensei. "The Ministry of Defence and Karasuma-san have told me all about you." He smiles. "I can't claim to understand everything, but...how heart broken you must be. To have sought to be the saviour of the world, only to fall into the role of the great villain who would destroy it."

"Saviour?" Nagisa whispers questioningly.

"Villain?" Kayano shrugs, implying that she doesn't know either.

"But let's set that aside for now," Asano lowers his head, closing his eyes as though pleased by Korosensei's reaction...which is to say, lack of reaction. "Struggle as I may, I cannot hope to save the planet from its crisis. Unless in the event of the unexpected, I shall be staying out of your assassination altogether." He begins to walk toward the door, pausing to whisper something to Karasuma. Nagisa and Kayano exchange looks when they hear the words. "You've certainly paid me enough, after all."

"We appreciate it," Karasuma replies with a steady voice.

"Well, aren't you rational?" Bitch-sensei speaks up, sounding slightly flirty. "I certainly don't mind that in a man."

"I'm honored," Asano places his hand over his heart, bowing slightly. "However..." He walks to the open window of the classroom and perches there, smiling demurely at the other three teachers. "As the board chairman, I must consider what lies in store next year and beyond - in the event the earth survives. In other words, what would happen to this school should someone happen to kill you? Frankly, we need the E Class to remain as it is." Nagisa's eyes narrow. That's not good...

"I don't like him," Kayano whispers. "I'd like to throw an anti-sensei knife at him, see how he likes that!"

"Kayano, shh!"

"As it is?" Korosensei asks, surprisingly calm. "You mean with rock-bottom grades and treatment, like now?"

"Indeed. Are you familiar with the worker ant principle?" Asano asks. "In any given group, twenty percent will be lazy, twenty percent will work hard and the remaining sixty percent will be average. My goal is a group composed of five percent slackers and ninety-five percent hard workers. 'I don't want to be like the E Class', 'I don't want to end up in the E Class', if we install such determination in ninety-five percent of the students, my ideal ratio can be achieved."

"The evil mastermind reveals his plan," Kayano hisses. "Write this down, Nagisa!"

"Uh..."

"I see," Korosensei nearly spits. "Very logical indeed. And that is why you must keep the five percent that forms the E Class weak and pitiful."

"I received a complaint from the D Class teacher," Asano says. "'A student from class E glared at my students and threatened to kill them.'"

"I forgot about that..." Nagisa murmurs, feeling embarrassed.

"You did that, Nagisa?!" Kayano gapes at her.

"No! I didn't threaten to kill them, they were picking on me and they said...well, the point is, I was provoked."

"I'm sure it's only natural for an assassin to glare daggers at people," Asano carefully says. "That in itself is not the problem. The problem is that a student with rock-bottom grades defied a regular one. Under my policies, that cannot stand. Please tell that student in no uncertain terms to control themselves. Even if it's Akabane, his behaviour will not be tolerated." Asano moves towards the door, seemingly about to leave properly this time.

"So I guess Takada and Tanaka didn't want to admit it was a girl who threatened them..." Nagisa laughs a bit awkwardly.

"Oh, and Korosensei..." Asano whirls around, throwing something at Korosensei. "Solve this. You have one second."

"EH?!" Korosensei catches the thing, which glints in the light of the room. It's a wire puzzle. "ONE SECOND?"

One second later, Korosensei is a tangled mess on the floor.

"What the hell is this?!" Nagisa and Kayano gasp, before immediately shushing each other.

 _Korosensei weak point #7: Wire ring puzzles freak him out_

"You are indeed as fast as they say," Asano smirks. "There is no doubt that you can dodge any attempt on your life. But you know, Korosensei...you cannot solve every problem in life with speed alone. Now, if you'll excuse me."

Kayano and Nagisa have no time to hide as Asano yanks open the sliding door of the staff room. He looks surprised to see them there, but his shook quickly melds into a mocking grin. "Hey there," He says cheerfully, his dry words obviously aimed at the two girls. "I look forward to seeing how you will do on your midterms! Good luck!" Then, he narrows his eyes, gazing at Kayano. "You know, Miss Kayano, I hope you're enjoying your time in the E Class. If not, feel free to dominate the top spot!" He walks away, leaving Nagisa with a sinking feeling in her gut.

In a matter of seconds, this man had transformed her from an assassin back into a student of the E Class.

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"Kayano?" As the two girls are walking to the station, Nagisa finally decides to ask her friend the question that's been bothering her, interrupting Kayano as she talks about caramelisation.

"Hmm?"

"What did he mean by 'feel free to dominate the top spot'?"

"I don't know...maybe he thinks I'm really smart? Do I look like I'm really smart, Nagisa?" Kayano pokes her own cheeks, making a face.

"..."

"Thought so! You're just too nice to say that I look like a ditz, right?"

"Kayano..."

"Yes?"

 _You're hiding something, aren't you?_ Nagisa thinks.

Outside, she smiles and shakes her head. "It's nothing."

"Don't you have to call Karma-kun?"

"Oh I forgot!"

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"Good morning class," The next day, the skies are painted a dreary gray. Nagisa feels her mood is just as dark. Korosensei, on the other hand has his usual bright smile on his face and seems two times more determined than the previous day. "Today you will be seeing even more of me!" Korosensei splits up into at least three times the amount of images there were the previous day.

 _That's way too many!_ Nagisa drops her pen. As Korosensei's images split, three or four to each student, Nagisa is very amazed. However... _Even the afterimages are getting sloppy...you can hardly tell they're all the same person...er, octopus._ Around the class, everyone is writing notes, trying to keep up with Korosensei's rapid pace.

"What's wrong, Korosensei? Aren't you getting a little too much into it?" Kayano asks.

"Hmm? Not at all!"

Nagisa picks up her pen, recalling the words of Asano the previous day. _We need the E Class to remain as it is..._ Her fingers scramble to scribble what Korosensei is saying about mensuration**.

At the end of the lesson, Korosensei is completely spent, collapsing onto the teachers desk, fanning himself. His whole face is red.

"That must've been exhausting, even for him," Maehara comments. A ring of students surround Korosensei.

"Maybe this is our chance!" Nakamura hums, holding up her knife.

"Why's he working so hard, anyway?" Okajima asks, looking curious.

Nagisa stands, moving to the back of the class, where Karma is balancing on his chair's two legs. Karma gives her a funny little salute as she stands next to him.

"So Asano Gakuhou strikes again, huh?" Karma says dryly. Nagisa shrugs.

"I assume so, heh..." She places a box on Karma's desk. "Here."

"Did you go home to get it?" Karma frowns, sitting up properly. "Nagisa-"

"It was fine. Mother wasn't home," Nagisa fibs, twisting the hem of her waistcoat. "I owe you, anyway."

"Don't be an idiot."

"Open it!"

Even he's tired, Korosensei manages to let out a weak laugh at the front of the class. "Nurufufufu...It's to get your exam scores up. If that happens..." Korosensei trails off, his face turning pink. Nagisa wonders what on _earth_ Korosensei is thinking about for his face to turn that pink, not to mention that giddy smile on his face. "I won't have to fear for my life, and I'd be living on an easy street..."

The ring of students exchange looks.

"Well," Mimura coughs awkwardly. "We don't _really_ have to be straight-A students..."

"Yeah...whoever assassinates him gets ten billion, after all..." Yada smiles nervously.

"Yeah, with ten billion, you don't need top grades to live a good life!" Nakamura props her hands behind her head.

Karma snorts softly from the back of the class. "Yeah, until it runs out."

"You're being very realistic," Nagisa sighs. "Besides, it's ten _billion."_

"Nyuya! I-is that how you all see it?!" Korosensei exclaims, seeming to be back to normal.

Everyone's faces fall slightly, Nagisa can see _that,_ even though smiles are put up at lightning speed to disguise their moods.

"We're the _end_ class, Korosensei," Okajima says.

"Your assassination way is more accessible to us than any exam," Mimura nods.

"Ah." Korosensei lowers his head. "I see how it is."

"Wait for it," Karma holds his hands up, forming a rectangle with his fingers, making Nagisa think of somebody holding up a camera. "Korosensei's going to do his life lessons thing again!"

"How what is?" Mimura asks cluelessly.

"You all don't have what it takes to be assassins yet," A dark purple cross covers Korosensei's face. "Out into the schoolyard, the lot of you."

"...What do you think he's going to do?" Nagisa murmurs.

"Don't really know, honestly don't care," Karma stands, waiting until everyone slowly gravitates out of the classroom before he bends down and gives her a sweet kiss. It's not nearly as long as Nagisa wants it to be, because by then, their classmates start to show up in the courtyard outside the window (And besides, it's kind of the wrong atmosphere for a kiss...shortly before a teacher scolds them? Karma has no sense of timing). "Thank you for the gift~" He takes her hand and they leave the classroom, Nagisa dragging her feet as much as she can, because...because Korosensei was _really_ angry earlier...reminding her of...of her mother. As they walk, Karma occasionally drop a kiss on the back of her hand, like he can sense her fear. When they reach the courtyard, Nagisa releases Karma's hand, shaking slightly from anxiety. _What will Korosensei do to them...? Will he turn out to be like Ono-sensei?_ She can tell that Karma's lurking at the back of the class, as always.

"What's going on?"

"Why'd he drag us out here all of a sudden?"

"Who knows? His mood got stormy all of a sudden."

Korosensei stands right smack dab in the middle of the courtyard, back facing the students.

"One of the features of Class E is it's built in remedial process," Finally, he begins to speak. "If they score top fifty of the one hundred and eighty six students who take the periodic exams, as well as receiving permission from their former teacher to return, they can leave the outcasts of the E Class."

"However, their poor academic skills and bleak educational environment provided makes meeting these conditions near impossible," Korosensei begins to push something across the courtyard, and none of them can see his face. "Most E Students are made to feel that remediation is beyond their grasp and comes to terms with the intense discrimination."

Nagisa swallows thickly and slides behind her swarm of classmates and up the stairs until she reaches Karma's side. He doesn't ask any questions. Just takes her hand and starts rubbing circles into the back of it with his thumb, and Nagisa is oddly comforted. But only a little.

"What do you _mean_ , 'Hurry up'?" A shrill voice pierces the air. All eyes snap to it's owner, Bitch-sensei, who is being led to the courtyard by Kataoka, where she stands next to Karasuma - when did Karasuma get there?

"Korosensei said to bring you, Irina-sensei," Kataoka hops down the steps, rejoining the class.

"Irina-sensei," Korosensei announces. "There is something I'd like to ask you as a professional assassin."

"What _is_ all this?" Bitch-sensei asks, uncertainty in her tone.

"When you're on a job, do you only prepare one plan of attack?" Korosensei questions.

"Huh?" Bitch-sensei narrows her eyes. "No. Things rarely play out according to my initial plan. Making detailed backup plans in preparation for any possibility is a basic tenet of assassination."

Nagisa gasps softly, and Karma pokes her to remind her to be quiet. Now she understands why Korosensei is so upset.

"And you, Karasuma-sensei," Korosensei shifts his questioning to the other teacher. "When fighting with a knife, is the first strike the only important one."

"The first strike is of course the most important," Karasuma's answer is concise. "But your next move matters too. Against a powerful foe, your first blow is likely to be dodged, so the precisions of which you can land your second and third blows can decide the fight."

"Look," Maehara speaks up. "What exactly are you getting at?"

"As your teachers have said," Korosensei begins to spin like a top. "A confident assassin always has a backup plan they can rely on. But what about you?" He spins faster and faster. "'We've got assassination, and that's enough,' you think, and there goes your academic goals. You're just trying to deal with your inferiority complexes." The courtyard is suddenly a cyclone of wind, and everyone in class has their arms up to defend their faces. "What if I fled from this classroom? What if another killer got to me first? If you stake everything up on this assassination, and all goes south, all you'll have left if the good old Class E inferiority."

"A word of advice from me to you before you walk that fine line:

Those who cannot wield a second blade, are _not qualified to be assassins_!" With that, a tornado appears where Korosensei had been standing seconds before.

When the tornado fades, so do the dark clouds.

"The yard was uneven and rampant with weeds," Korosensei announces. "I tidied it up a bit."

When everyone looks again, the courtyard has been transformed. It looks new, with lines chalked for running and new equipment. Shocked gasps fill the courtyard, and Nagisa tugs Karma down the stone steps to look at it better.

"I am a super being capable of destroying the earth. Destroying this neighbourhood would be a piece of cake," Korosensei looks at them, his eyes glinting an angry red. "If you cannot show me a second blade you can depend upon, I will know that none of you are assassins worthy of taking me on, and I will flatten this entire campus before I go."

"Show you a second blade?" Nagisa asks, releasing Karma's hand. "By when?"

"Tomorrow, of course," Korosensei says cheerfully, sounding less serious and more like himself. "I want you all to place top fifty on tomorrow's midterms!"

"EH?!" The class exclaims.

"I've been honing your second blades this whole time!" Korosensei seems amused by their reactions. "You've learnt fast enough to keep up with them and then some." Jabbing a tentacle at them, Korosensei continues. "Wield those blades with confidence. Succeed in your mission and hold your heads high - smiling and unashamed. You are all proud assassins, and proud members of the E Class."

 _With that,_

 _It was time for midterms._

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 _Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap_

Their examiner, Ono-sensei, doesn't bother to keep the volume of his finger tapping down, smirking as he looks at all the E Students in the room. Nagisa is _pretty_ sure he's trying to disrupt their examination...

It's the first midterms of the day, and of _course_ they have to start out with _math_. _And_ all the exams are taken in the main campus, meaning an away game for class E.

 _And everything goes south._

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Korosensei stands on a hill, watching the sky, awaiting for the return of his beloved students...

He disappears from the spot he was standing in, just as a knife flies into the space his head had occupied nanoseconds before.

"Seriously?" Korosenesei turns and stares at Irina, who has her hands on her hips as she scowls at him. Clearly, she is the thrower of the knife. "You'll really _leave_ if they all don't make top fifty?!" He doesn't say a word and she takes it as confirmation. "Are you _insane_? Judging from their grades until now...they don't have a snowball's chance in hell!"

"So both Irina-sensei and Karasuma-sensei use that phrase..." Korosensei comments idly.

"Be serious, you octopus!"

"I am. I wouldn't be as quick as you to put them down. After all...they're _my_ students now. I've taught them how to defend themselves, even in a pinch."

 _But sometimes, the end result isn't what is expected..._

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"What is the meaning of this? I felt that the test was decidedly unfair," Karasuma stands at the window of the staffroom, speaking his phone. Behind him, his colleagues sit and stand in silence, listening.

"How strange~" The person on the other end simpers. "You should have been notified! Was there some kind of miscommunication on your end, perhaps? You don't stop by the main campus very often so it wouldn't surprise me."

 _Shiota Nagisa - Total score 315 - Rank 105 of 186_

 _Isogai Yuuma - Total score 367 - Rank 68 of 186_

 _Terasaka Ryouma - Total score 230 - Rank 159 of 186_

"I can't say that there was. Regardless, this is quite unusual. Two days before the exam, and you broaden the scope of all the subjects?"

"I don't think you understand...um, Karasuma-sensei. We are a prep school. The last minute cramming abilities of our students is simply another thing we test. Why, the main-campus students received an splendid lecture on the new material from the Board Director himself!"

Karasuma pauses, understanding now. _Is there nothing this man won't stoop to in the name of his doctrine?_

As he hangs up, Karasuma mulls over the situation. _They've put us at a fine spot,_ He casts a look at the giant yellow Octopus. _If he leaves the E Class..._

 _We lose everything._

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"The responsibility is entirely mine," Korosensei stands at the front of class, his back facing the students, all of whom have crestfallen faces. "I seem to have overestimated what this school was capable of."

"I can't even face you after that."

A knife flies at Korosensei.

"Nyuya!"

"You sure?" The familiar saccharine sweet cocky voice fills the room. "If you can't face us, you can't see us coming to kill you," Karma marches up to Korosensei's desk.

"Karma-kun, I am very depressed right now!" Korosensei turns red in the face. "And-"

Karma dumps a handful of papers on Korosensei's desk. Nagisa glances up from her sorry results to try and look at what's on Korosensei's desk.

"Changing a few questions isn't going to stop me."

Their class swarms the teacher's table, but Nagisa has already seen the marks.

 _English. 98%_

 _Math. 100%_

 _Japanese. 98%_

 _Science. 99%_

 _Social studies. 99%_

 _Total score: 494_

 _Rank 4 out of 186_

 _Welllllll_...Nagisa's eyes widen. _Dang._ Is the only thing she can think of.

"Amazing..." Maehara murmurs.

"A hundred in math?! No way!" Isogai gasps.

"My grades were great already," Karma casually brags, Nagisa silently rolling her eyes. "But you really went the extra mile. That's why I could handle the questions after they changed the scope. But assassination is way more fun than going back to my old classroom. I may have a bone to pick with my old teacher, but that's a little worthless if I go back on my own," His eyes seek Nagisa's and she smiles slightly. "I'm staying right here. So, what'cha gonna do, Korosensei? You going to use the other's marks as an excuse to turn tail and run?" Karma mocks. "Sounds like you're just _scared_ that we might _kill_ you!" A vein bulges in Korosensei's head.

The class begins to smile, exchanging looks amongst themselves. Kataoka and Isogai both nudge Maehara, who laughs loudly and props his arms up behind his head.

"Oh, that's it? You were scared?"

Everyone begins chattering and laughing at once.

"You should've told us up front!" Kataoka giggles.

"Just go like 'I'm scared!'" Nakamura does an impression of Korosensei, her arms flailing about everywhere. "'I want to run home to my big octopus mommy!'" Is it Nagisa's imagination, or does Korosensei look sad for a second?

It must be that, because two seconds later, Korosensei is red all over (As red as Karma's hair), his tentacles flailing about everywhere...like Nakamura's just seconds before. "I am _not_ running away!"

"Eh? So then what?" Karma asks.

Korosensei pauses, looking down at the redhead.

"We'll pay them back twofold at the end-of-year exam!"

Inside, Nagisa feels a sense of pride, which is ridiculous.

Why is she there being pleased about being in the E Class?

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 **Finished lol**

 **For Karma's results, well, they didn't quite say which marks was which, so I read the words that said 'English exam' for the english mark, realised that the 100% was on a ya^2 = blah blah, and inferred the other three :p**

 **Anyway, I hope you weren't too offput by this chapter**

 **Thank you for favoriting or following this story ^^ It makes me stupidly happy lol**

 **review replies ~~**

 ** _XenoCanaan:_** _Thank you ^^ I liked chapter five as well, lol. I hope this Chapter met your standards :P_

 ** _Amaya Kuruta:_** _Yes, yes Karma does *inane laughing* Well, I just thought about the old philosophy about walking you date to the door, and so Karma walked Nagisa down the mountain. I mean, Nagisa's group. I did my best on the Akabane's, I figured that they would be_ pretty _individualised and nutty, seeing how Karma turned out :O_

 ** _LucidClockwork:_** _CHIBA AND HAYAMI ARE MY OTP TOO (After Karma and Nagisa too lol) I really wanted to fit them into this chapter . I legit scoured it, but I couldn't find an opening *melts*_

 _ **Aipom4:**_ _XD Here is more of the story *nods*_

 ** _Danget the Critic:_** _Can I have that crab...? I want it. It's so cute. Lol XD Nagisa as a little police person...whoa it's the opposite of an assassin...I think_

 _ **Arcanasage:** (Man, I had to retype your name twice...) Thanks lol XD  
_

 ** _RinnTachibana:_** _Aww! Thank you! XD_ _I have a plan for when Yuuji appears *rubs hands together* oh yes I do *laughs evilly* Don't get me started on what Asano Gakushuu is going to do lol. Since Nagisa is a little oblivious potato in the cannon story, well, I plan on making use of that XD (And Karma may or may not be jealous *clears throat* *whispers* He'll totally be jealous *clears throat*)_

 ** _GingerHale:_** _What happened? Can you log in now? *is worried*_ _How do you pronounce that...'de extranjis'? Thanks lol XD_ _I always want to fit in more Karmagisa moments (๑′̥̥̥▵‵̥̥̥ ૂ๑) But I sometimes I can't find an appropriate place to put it ( ´•̥ _ •̥` ) Well, I'm still alive (mostly, I fell down some stairs after my exams since I'm such a klutz) but IT'S OVER XD AND I'M CONTINUING (Well, this was up a little late, sorry :( ) Oh, there weren't any typos, so don't worry :P_

 _ **Guest:** Thank you! *pauses* *rereads the review* Dang it, why didn't I think of that? I should have thought about that! I just based her eating habits off my friend because, well, *whispers* my friend is nutty. I should have thought about Karma's mother seeing it and thinking that tho :(_

 ** _Shiranai Atsune_ _:_** _Thank you! I kinda ship Sugino and Kanzaki so I think I'll put that in, especially since in cannon, Kanzaki liked Nagisa, but now that Nagisa is a smol girl, I'm thinking on working on that ship ^^_

 _ **Lovleydragonfly:** Thank you very much ^^_

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 _The tablet mystery revealed at last:_

 _Time frame: Between chapter 5 and 6 (now) So more like a mini chapter 5.5_

 _Extras:_

 _The Poem on the Tablet_

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Nagisa slips her hand into her bag and pulls out a thin tablet.

Ever since Karma had returned to class, she has found herself thinking about the _stupid_ poem she had written, way back when Korosensei had just begun teaching them. Her fingers glide over the carefully penned kanji, before she releases a giant sigh.

"Nagisa, what's that?" Fuwa appears from nowhere, leaning over Nagisa.

"Wha-!" Nagisa falls off her chair, the tablet flying somewhere in Fuwa's general direction.

 _Please don't catch it,_ Nagisa silently prays. A hand descends into her field of vision and Nagisa grabs it, releasing a sigh when the person helps her up.

"You ok there, Nagisa-chan?" Yada smiles down at her, letting go of Nagisa's hand, she smoothes out the smaller girls' hair, helping her tie it up again into twintails.

"Yes...where did my...tablet go?" Nagisa asks nervously, tugging the ends of her twintails.

Yada shrugs, stepping back. Nagisa glances around the classroom nervously. Thankfully, Fuwa doesn't seem to have the tablet, so where is...

Oh dear.

Sitting at the table diagonally south-east of Nagisa, Hayami blinks at surprise at the tablet in her hands.

"Hayami, what's that?" Chiba asks. He stands next to the orange-haired girl's desk. Nagisa can't see his eyes, but she guesses that he's just as surprised.

"Who knows," Hayami's eyes move over the tablet and her cheeks colour slightly. After a moment, she passes it to Chiba, looking frazzled.

"Oh. _Oh._ " Chiba's voice is wavering a little.

"I don't know who's it is." Hayami mumbles and Nagisa makes to get off her chair to reclaim the tablet. _Thank goodness Fuwa-san is all the way there_...

"Chiba, what'cha have there?" Nakamura sings, snatching the tablet out of Chiba's hands.

Nagisa falls off her seat again.

"Nagisa!" Yada exclaims.

Nakamura moves over to help the smaller girl and Nagisa makes use of that to snatch the tablet out of her hands. Unfortunately, she doesn't get far.

"Gotcha!" Fuwa calls gleefully, grasping Nagisa's wrists. "Now I can see what's on this! Maybe it's a doujin!"

"A what?" Nakamura snatches the tablet from Nagisa, her eyes skimming over the words.

"Doujin. Doujinshi full. Like...a mange version of fanfiction? I guess?" Fuwa replies, still gripping Nagisa's wrists. "What does it say?"

"Oh my, _oh my_ ," Nakamura smirks.

"Nakamura-san!" Nagisa wails.

"What'cha got there?" Kayano asks, walking towards the blonde girl from where she just entered the class.

"Kayano, Kayano, get a load of this-"

"NAKAMURA-SAN!" Nagisa shrieks.

"'I wasn't quite sure when I realised, but then suddenly, I was-' OUCH!" Nakamura exclaims when Nagisa kicks her in the shin. Twisting out of Fuwa's grasp, Nagisa snatches the tablet and hops onto the table to get out of the reach of the girls, hopping over tables and tables, Nagisa finally makes a loop around the class (with Nakamura, Fuwa and Kayano hot on her heels) and returns to the classroom door. By now, there's a whole uproar inside, and everybody's out of their seats, either chasing after Nagisa angrily, since she stepped on their desks, trying to calm everyone down, or just laughing and adding chaos into the fray.

When she finally reaches the door, Nagisa yanks it open and barrels out of the classroom, sliding the door back to place forcefully. Unfortunately, in typical class E fashion, there is no lock, so Nagisa immediately hightails out of there, leaving the rowdy class behind. So busy she is looking over her shoulder that she almost runs someone over.

"Nagisa? What's wrong?" The person she nearly knocks over grabs her arms, steadying her. Isogai blinks at her, looking confused. Next to him, Maehara is also staring at her in surprise. "Nagisa?"

"It's nothing-"

"NAGISA~!" She jumps when she hears the shouts of her name behind her.

"We seem to have a class revolt," Nagisa amends her words, smiling apologetically to Isogai and Maehara. The two boys exchange looks before Isogai nods slowly.

"You accompany Nagisa-san, Hiroto," Isogai steps toward the classroom. "Let's see what's going on."

"Right, Yuma. Where you going, Nagisa?"

"Uh...staff room." Nagisa come up with something on the spot, gripping the tablet between her hands.

"I'll walk you there," Maehara props his arms up behind his head, walking with the shorter girl. "So why do you need to see the teachers?" He asks.

"..." Nagisa shrugs, fumbling for a response. "I need Bitch-sensei to...translate something to english for me."

"Is that so?" Maehara hums lightly. "So, can I ask you something Nagisa?"

"Y-Yes?" Nagisa plays with the edge of the tablet.

"Are you seeing someone?" Nagisa jumps, her eyes going wide.

"W-W-What? W-Why would y-you draw...draw such a c-conclusion?" Nagisa stammers.

"You have the same glow as Yukimura-sensei at times," Maehara glances down at her. "And you smile to yourself when you see something and laugh sometimes. Also you hum randomly."

"Oh." Nagisa furrows her brows. _How to respond..._ "Oh, you noticed that?"

"Yuma was worried about you," Maehara shrugs. "He notices everyone in class somehow, freaking Ikemen. Usually if someone worries him, he'll ask Kataoka and I to keep an eye on them and see how it goes."

"Oh, that's nice of him?" Nagisa frowns slightly, twisting the edge of her pinafore. "Why was I worrying him?"

"Not so much worrying," Maehara is the one who fumbles with his words now. "More like...you were really happy? So like, the rest of the class has been in higher spirits too. He just noticed that and, yeah. So Kataoka said that you seem fine health-wise, so Yuma asked me if _I_ knew how why you were suddenly so chirpy."

"Was I really?"

"Yeah, it's just your...your aura? So I think you are seeing someone, see?"

"I don't get it." Nagisa wishes that Maehara will stop giving her the third degree.

"Neither do I and _I'm_ the one talking. Anyway, here you go," Maehara kicks open the door of the staffroom. "Bitch-sensei! Nagisa - oh, hi Karma."

"H-Hi..." Nagisa smiles nervously. In the staffroom, Bitch-sensei is the only one inside, with Karma perching on the table, a purse in his hand.

"Oh, Nagisa-chan," Karma gestures for her to come to him. "I found some money."

"Karma, stop bullying Korosensei," Nagisa sighs, but moves towards her boyfriend anyway. Karma props an arm on her head when she stands next to him, peering into the purse-

"Why is there so much money?" Nagisa gapes at the open purse, which has several hundred thousand yen bills inside.

"Right?" Humming softly, Karma takes out three thousand yen bills and some coins. "This is how much my stuff cost," Karma explains when Maehara, Nagisa and Bitch-sensei stare at him. "He took something of mine, so I'm taking the money that it cost~"

"So mean," Maehara throws himself into one of the seats. "Anyway, Karma, do you know who Nagisa is dating?"

"Nagisa is going out with someone?" Bitch-sensei arches a perfectly shaped brow. "Well, I guessed as much." She glances at Karma and Nagisa and laughs. Flushing, Nagisa turns and hides her face in Karma's shirtfront. _Seems like Bitch-sensei knows..._

"Of course I know," Karma rolls his eyes, removing his arm from Nagisa's head, patting her gently instead.

"So you know who it it?!" Maehara exclaims. "Nice! Tell me, I want to know."

"Isn't it obvious?" Bitch-sensei interrupts, rolling her blue-green eyes. "The two of them."

"What about them?" Maehara asks obliviously.

"They're dating."

"H-HAH?!"

As Maehara peppers Karma with questions, Nagisa passes the tablet to Karma, who accepts it while answering Maehara, shooting sassy remarks to counter Bitch-sensei's lewd comments and also patting Nagisa's head reassuringly at the same time. She takes a few deep breaths, her fingers still gripping Karma's black jacket.

"Oh, nice," Karma suddenly says, cutting Maehara's question off. "When did you write this?"

"During class. The day I called you in...after that," Nagisa mumbles. "I...It's for you."

"I guessed as much," Karma sets his hands on Nagisa's shoulders and hops off the table. "Hey, look at me?" She lifts her eyes. "Good girl," Karma leans down and kisses her softly and sweetly.

Nagisa guesses that all the drama over the tablet is worth it.

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 **Hoped you liked it lol XD**

 **Please review lol XD**


	7. Chapter 7

**XD**

 **Thank you for all the nice reviews :3**

 **I just realised that I never really said when I would update :/ In my time (South-East Asian time), it's _supposed to be_ Tuesday and Friday in the ****early afternoon, but usually i can't follow it because I'm trash :p**

 **[On that note, oh look. It's Wednesday. Guess who's late to update again XD and what's more, I have more freetime now than last time and I still keep updating late -_-]**

 **I do not own assassination classroom, anime _or_ manga (loved them both tho) ;-; nor do I own the story 'The Housekeeper and the Professor' or the ****books of HaruChika (or the anime) I'm saying the HaruChika thing because I _kinda maybe actually_ stole a line from there. I'll astrid it for further clarification lol**

 **But on the other hand, I own a bunch of Toblerone and a bag of Kit-Kats**

 **Warnings: Well, there's two little swear words in the scene where the big bad highschoolers are kidnapping the girls, but other than that, I think it's fine? Oh, there's the some implication of sexual themes(?) I guess? If you really squint. But only in that scene where the high school students are speaking to like Kayano and Kanzaki.**

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 _Chapter 7:_

 _The beautiful city, Kyoto!_

 _..._

 _Sorta_

 ** _OR_**

 _School Trip time!_

 _(First period)_

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"You have to move baaaaccckkkk?" Karma whines. Lying down on his bed, he watches as Nagisa packs her belongings, all of which had become scattered around his room during her one and a half week stay.

"Yes. Mother called and told me to return," Nagisa wills her hands to stay steady as she picks up her school bag. "It has been longer than a week, anyway."

Karma goes silent, something that causes Nagisa worry until he tugs on her wrist as she walks by the bed, pulling her next to him.

"Kiss me," Karma whispers, smirking.

Sighing, Nagisa stands, clearing a spot on the bed before she plunks herself back down. Turning Karma's head so that he's not facing her, she gives him a butterfly kiss on the lips.

"Happy?" She asks softly.

Instead of replying, Karma groans. "No."

"You're very cute when you're clingy," Nagisa kisses Karma's nose and resumes her packing, tossing her clothes into the large bag she had brought to Karma's place a week and a half ago.

"We can both agree that the cute one here is you," Karma laughs.

"If you say so," Nagisa smiles. "But for the record, I think you can be very sweet and cute."

"Snort."

"Karma, did you just _say_ snort?"

"Yes, yes I did. Snort again."

Nagisa giggles into her palm.

"Am I not great?" Karma brags.

"Not great enough to help me pack."

"If I read to you, will you spend time with me instead of packing your stuff?" He grumbles out after a pause. Surprised, since Karma _never_ offers to read to her, Nagisa freezes, almost dropping the item she's holding (which is her DS. It had taken ages for her to save up for it, and she's thankful that she doesn't drop it)

But only for a second. After that, she beams widely and nods, grabbing a book out of her bag and handing it to Karma.

"Make yourself comfortable," Karma knocks a whole wave of his belongings off his bed so that he can prop himself onto his pillows. Laughing to herself, Nagisa clears a space so she can access the pillows too, leaning against his shoulder.

Clearing his throat, Karma begins. "'The housekeeper and the professor'," He glances at her. "Seriously? That's the title? Wow. Sounds mucho interesting. Why don't you just-"

Nagisa nudges him gently with her elbow. "It's an adult-y book."

"Alright, fine. No snarky comments," Karma coughs into his palm and glances at his bedside table, where a jug of water sits. "OK... 'Chapter one. We called him the professor. And he called my son 'Root', because, he said, the flat top of his head reminded him of the square root sign...'"

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"Nagisa, did you figure out who's in your group yet?" Kataoka asks Nagisa the next day.

"My group?" Nagisa asks.

"When you're all set, tell one of your class presidents - Isogai-kun or I."

"Ok...?" Tilting her head, Nagisa tries to puzzle out what _group_ Kataoka could be talking about.

"Did you forget? Our class trip is next week!" Kayano holds out a magazine filled with bright pictures.

"Our what?"

"Honestly, who arranges a class trip _this_ early in the third year?" Korosensei declares, entering the classroom then. "I can't say I approve." Nagisa takes one look at him and nearly screams, since Korosensei is wearing a proper kimono, with a wig, a fan and makeup on. A traditional umbrella is gripped between his teeth.

"You're totally into it!" Maehara exclaims.

 _"Geisha clothes?!"_ Mimura yelps.

" _And_ they look good on him?!" Okajima nearly screams.

"Those three," Yada sighs, shaking her head with a pleased smile on her face. "Ignore them, Korosensei! You look really into the Kyoto trip."

"You saw right through me," Korosensei changes out of his geisha costume, two pink ovals on his cheeks to represent blushing. "Yes, in fact, I can hardly wait to go on this trip with you."

 _First, exams. Now, a school trip,_ Nagisa sighs internally. _Assassination or no, we sure are doing a lot of school stuff._

"Uh..." Nagisa smiles awkwardly before turning around to look for Karma or Sugino. "Sugino, did you know we had a class trip?"

"Nagisa, it's all we've been talking about for the past few days," Sugino shoots her an odd look. "You're the group leader."

"Oh..." Nagisa blinks a couple of times, surprised. "I don't remember-"

"Didn't you check the class chat?" Kayano sighs when Nagisa only gives her a blank look. "Sometimes we say important stuff in the group chat, so you have to see."

"But I haven't had wifi the past few days," Nagisa frowns, pulling out her phone. Although Karma's house _does_ have wifi, Nagisa feels awkward asking for the password and simply spends her days there without internet. Now that she is back in her own house, on the other hand... After tapping the screen a bit, she pouts. "I forgot. No internet up here either..."

"Well, just take our word for it, then," Kayano shrugs.

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After a briefing during Physical Education, when Karasuma tells them about the government hiring sharpshooters to work with the groups and a reminder to choose assassination friendly routes, the class is left to decide groups. It turns out that a few others, besides Nagisa, had been oblivious to the trip, so they are using the time now to group up.

"Groups for the school trip, huh?" Nagisa taps her chip, peering at the paper.

"Well there's you, Nagisa, me, Kayano, and you, Sugino," Kayano counts them off. "That's three-"

"Nagisa, delivery," Nagisa looks up in surprise to see Maehara pushing a laughing Karma over. "He was picking on Kurahashi," Maehara explains. "I dragged him over for you."

"Guh!" Sugino makes a sort of choking noise when Karma's impish grin widens.

"Karma, you should stop playing pranks on the other students," Nagisa scolds, internally glad that Maehara is interfering.

"Yeah, yeah, I didn't do much, Nagisa-chan" Karma rolls his eyes, moving to stand by the window instead.

"One, two, three," Kayano counts them off again.

"Hmm..." Nagisa stares at the redhead for a bit before smiling to herself. "Hey, Karma, want to be in my group?"

"Hmm?" Karma glances over, his usual carefree smile in place. "OK." He walks over, Sugino looking in pain.

"You sure about that, Karma?" Sugino says doubtfully. "You won't to be pickin' fights and gettin' into trouble on our trip, will you?"

"No sweat!" Karma pulls out a picture, seeming to group demon horns and a tail at that moment. "When I fight offsite, I make sure to silence any witnesses." In the photograph, Karma stands with his arms around two unfamiliar students, both of whom are holding their student passes up to the camera. "No one will breathe a word."

"Oh, this was Tokyo last year," Nagisa observes. "That was fun. We went with our old classmates from primary school, right?"

"Yep. I remember everyone was still using 'Nadeshiko', because I created the lasting legacy."

"Yes, I can recall..." Nagisa smiles, thinking about their primary school days.

"Anyway, there were some punks messing with them, but there was no guarantee that these two wouldn't twist the story somehow, so I got someone to help us take a group photo," Karma waves the picture back and forth.

"C'mon!" Sugino jumps away from Karma. "You can't let him in our group, Nagisa!"

"Well..." Nagisa fumbles with her words a bit before just sighing. "We _are_ old friends."

"I thought we broke the friend barrier," Karma whispers into her ear.

"Shh," Nagisa pushes Karma away.

Sticking out his tongue at her, her counts them. "So, me, Nagisa-chan, Sugino, Kayano-chan...that's four. Who else?"

"Oh!" Kayano drags a girl with thick braids and thicker spectacles to her side. "I invited Okuda-san!"

"H-H-H-Hello..." Okuda looks mortified.

"Well, we need six, meaning we still need one more," Karma shoves his hands into his pockets. "Shouldn't we get another boy?"

"No way," Kayano shakes her head emphatically. "We need another girl. If you must, get Nagisa to wear pants or something. We need another girl."

"Why me?!" Nagisa gapes at Kayano.

"Because I'm too cute and Okuda's too shy and you're androgynous." Kayano tosses her hair.

"I'm not!" Nagisa protests.

"It's not a bad thing," Karma tugs the end of Nagisa's pigtail.

"Well, we still need another member!"

Sugino laughs smugly, drawing the attention of the group. "I thought this might happen, so I asked her way in advance!" Nagisa exchanges looks with Karma, confused. "How about the Class Madonna, Kanzaki-san?" Sugino asks, blushing.

"Ooo!" Kayano looks as impressed as Nagisa feels. "No objections here!"

 _Kanzaki-san doesn't stand out, but she's popular with all of us,_ Nagisa tugs on Karma's sleeve excitedly. _No one would mind being in the same group as her._

"Nagisa, you're going to tear my jacket," Karma nudges her foot with his.

"Sorry..."

"Thanks for having me, Nagisa-chan," Kanzaki greets the smaller girl, bowing.

"Su-sure," Nagisa tries to smile as calmly and beautifully as Kanzaki. She's pretty sure she fails, though.

"Now, let's see where we're going to go!" Kayano pumps a fist in the air.

"Yeah! Where should we start?" Sugino laughs.

"What children. After you've been all over the world, a school trip is nothing," Flipping her hair, Bitch-sensei smiles pridefully.

"Feel free to stay behind, Bitch-sensei," Maehara calls out, pouring over the map with his group.

"Eh?"

"Keep the garden watered, 'kay?" Okano asks.

"Hey, where should we go on day two?" Kurahashi chirps.

"Maybe we can start in Higashiyama?" Kataoka suggests.

"Consider it's viability for assassination, though," Isogai reminds his group.

"But this route's more _fun_ ," Kurahashi whines.

"What's that?! Don't you dare leave me out of the fun!" Bitch-sensei shrieks, pointing a pistol at the group.

"Look, do you want to come or not?!" Maehara snaps.

"Shut up! I'm going to _have_ to!"

"Typical Bitch-sensei," Kayano laughs, playfully hitting Sugino's shoulder. "C'mon, let's plan our route!"

The classroom door slides open.

"Huh?" Nagisa glances up and-

 _WOW THAT'S A LOT OF BOOKS._

Korosensei enters the room, piles of thick books on each of this tentacles.

"Everyone, one for each of you!" Korosensei announces.

"Uh, what are those?" Isogai asks.

"School trip guidebooks." Korosensei drops one in the hands of each person.

Nagisa, Kayano and Okuda fall over due to the sudden increased weight in their arms.

"It weighs a ton!" Kataoka exclaims.

"These are practically dictionaries!" Maehara yells angrily, practically foaming at the mouth.

"Every sightseeing spot illustrated, the top hundred souvenirs, and travel self-defense how-to's from square one to practical use!" Korosensei announces, sounding like an advertiser as he flips through the book at Mach speed. "I stayed up all night making them! The first print comes with a papercraft model of Kinkakuji!" Korosensei presents the paper model.

"Just how psyched are you for this?!" Okajima demands loudly.

"Up you go," Karma helps Nagisa up, dusting off her skirt as he dumps both his and Nagisa's guidebooks on a random desk.

"You two ok?" Sugino asks Okuda and Kayano, peeling the guidebook off Kayano.

"How are you still standing, Kanzaki-san?" Kayano moans, sounding envious as the Kanzaki and Sugino help her up.

"Karma, help," Nagisa calls, lifting the heavy guidebook off Okuda.

"She can stand on her own, she has legs," Karma replies simply, grabbing the guidebook Nagisa's holding and placing it on Okuda's desk.

"Should we write an itinerary so that we don't have to carry the guidebooks around?" Sugino wonders out loud.

"Sounds like a good idea!" Kayano chirps.

"I'll do it, then," Kanzaki volunteers, smiling calmly.

"Will you really?!" Sugino gasps, before bowing to Kanzaki, looking flustered. "Thank you very much!"

(Nagisa exchanges looks with Kayano, shaking her head at Sugino's antics. Karma, on the other hand, decides that it's hilarious and snickers, his phone already up and recording the blushing boy. Okuda looks awkward, shifting from foot to foot before smiling and glancing away)

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"The station we're going is different from the normal one?" Nagisa gapes at the giant station that they're all in, much larger than the city train stations that she is used to.

"Yep," Karma sets a hand on Nagisa's chin, pushing her open jaw back into place. "Focus, shortcake." They both of them are already lagging behind their classmates, fighting against the flow of the crowd.

"Aren't you the shortcake?" Nagisa ponders. "Since shortcakes are associated with strawberry shortcakes and your hair is red."

"But I'm tall, see? You on the other hand, _my rittlu shortucaku (my little shortcake)_ , are not." Karma says the words ' _my little shortcake'_ in English, causing people to look at him strangely.

"Hnn...There's the class," Nagisa points the bright green hair of Kayano. "Thank goodness we found them,"

"Yep. Thank goodness."

As they join the class, the other classes of Kunugigaoka begin boarding their train.

"Whoa," Sugaya whistles. "The A through D classes are riding first-class."

The E class watches them with jealous eyes.

"We're the only ones in coach," Nakamura sighs. "Like always."

"Those are the rules at our school," Overhearing them, Ono-sensei stops just before he's about to board to sneer at them. "We explained them to you when you first came here, remember?"

"Students with good grades get priority use of school funds," Sticking their heads out from the train door, Takada and Tanaka smirk, shades on.

"Oh dear, is the the stench of poverty I smell?" Tanaka munches on a chocolate stick.

"You're one to talk," Karma calls, his unsettlingly cheerful grin in place. "Last I checked, I was fourth. You two don't seem to have improved much, hmm?"

"W-Well, who's in first class, Akabane?" Tanaka splutters.

"I don't suppose it's you, huh? The guy who's spitting all over the station floor, oh my~, oh my~..." Karma taunts. Tanaka splutters again, spittle flying from his plump face. "Much manners."

"Shut up, E Class loser!" Takada shrieks as Tanaka places a hand over his fat lips.

"Oh my, is that the stench of jealousy I smell?" Karma fires back, his golden eyes twinkling. Sighing, Nagisa tugs on his sleeve.

"Karma," She says reproachfully.

"Right~"

"Listen, Akabane, you've got to mind you manners, you E Student, so watch your mouth," Ono-sensei snarls, glaring daggers at the redhead. "Haven't you learnt anything?"

"Oh, you want _me_ to watch my mouth?" Karma narrows his eyes. Sensing his murderous intent, Nagisa tugs his sleeve again. When he still doesn't stop the bloodlust leaking out of him, Nagisa sighs, slipping her hand under his jacket and lightly placing her hand flat on the small of his back. Through his shirt, of course. Karma relaxes an ounce, but he still snaps open his mouth, probably prepared with a sassy comment when-

"Do pardon me," A new voice joins their conversation, drawing all eyes on the platform.

"Greetings, students." In a completely fashionable and revealing outfit; thigh-high stockings paired with a micro-miniskirt, designer shades, a gold choker, platform heels and a carefully arranged beanie, Bitch-sensei sashays to the E Class.

"Calm down, OK?" Nagisa uses Bitch-sensei's entrance, something that distracts all her classmates, to wrap her arms around Karma, pressing her face into his side as she whispers out those words. Ono-sensei is really a bad trigger... "Don't do anything idiotic."

Instead of replying, Karma grins and drops a kiss onto the top of Nagisa's head, all signs of his earlier bloodlust gone. Relieved, Nagisa pulls away from him.

"Bitch-sensei, what's with the Hollywood starlet look?" Maehara asks.

"Hohoho," Bitch-sensei flips her hair. Pulling down her shades, her hard-as-steel blue-green eyes bear into them. "These are standard practices for any assassin who uses her womanly wiles."

"You look very cool, Bitch-sensei," Yada compliments.

"Thank you, Yada. A lady never neglects fashion just because she's travelling."

"You stick out like a sore thumb," Karasuma makes an appearance, looking miffed. "Go change. As a teacher, you're their chaperone. Look the part."

"Don't be such a spoilsport, Karasuma!" Bitch-sensei flicks her wrist in a dismissive manner. "I'm showing these brats how a grown-up trip looks like!"

"Take it off," Karasuma's voice goes low and Nagisa feels a shiver up her spine. "Now."

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

In the end, Bitch-sensei ends up in her sleepwear, sulking as Karasuma checks their classlist calmly.

"Who's chaperoning who?" Kataoka sighs as she watches their two teachers.

"Guess she's been rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous so long that she's lost touch with her normal side," Isogai agrees.

"Maybe she was never normal in the first place," Maehara suggests.

"Hiroto," Isogai deadpans.

"Sorry, sorry."

The class splits into groups on the train.

As she walks down the aisles of the trains, Nagisa hears snippets of conversation. Two groups of seven, two groups of six. An interesting combination with group one being all the more headstrong members, Isogai, Maehara, Kimura, Kataoka, Yada, Okano and Kurahashi. Group two being the ones with certain interests, Okajima, Sugaya, Mimura, Chiba, Hayami, Nakamura and Fuwa. Group three being... _well_ , Terasaka, Yoshida, Muramatsu, Takebayashi, Hazama and Hara. Group four, the last group, contains Nagisa, Karma, Okuda, Kayano, Kanzaki and Sugino, obviously.

"So if we corner him here..." Isogai is lecturing his half of his groupmates, Kataoka, Kimura and Yada.

"Yess! Road to riches, suckers!" Maehara hoots from where he and the rest of group one are playing game of life...with half of group two, Fuwa, Okajima and Nakamura.

"I'll edit it later," Mimura shows off a video to the other members of his group.

"Wow, cool!" Sugaya exclaims.

There's utter silence from the Terasaka gang, Hara, and Takebayashi. It _really_ looks like an interesting group choice, though.

Nagisa slides into the seats her group are in.

"Eh?" Sugino is saying as she enters that area. "The train's left the station...but where's Korosensei?"

Nagisa looks to the window and -

"AH!" She shrieks, leaping out of her seat when she sees Korosensei's face plastered across the glass. "What are you doing stuck to the window, Korosensei?!"

"I got here a little late because I was buying snacks at the train station," Korosensei splutters, probably shouting pretty loudly since Nagisa can hear him through the glass. "So I'll just tag along like this until the next stop. Oh, and do not worry. With my camouflage, it makes it seem like there will only be my clothes and bag stuck to the train car."

"That's just as suspicious!" Nagisa groans.

"Nice," Karma whistles, hitting the window with his fist. "Let's kill him while he's out there!"

"Sit down," Kayano waves at them frantically. "We're getting weird looks from the rest of our class."

"It's Korosensei!" Karma yells, waving to the rest of their class.

A collective 'Ohhhhhh' rises from their classmates as they return to their previous antics.

("See, we should use the location..." Kataoka jabs a point on the map. "Don't you think it's better?"

"No, see," Yada takes the map, looking concentrated. "If we used a deserted alleyway, it'll be too suspicious for us to be there, not to mention the danger that could be present..."

"HAH! FIVE IS _MY_ NUMBER, LOSERS! WHO'S RICH NOW?!" Okano yells, punching a fist in the air.

"Damn it! I swear you're cheating!" Nakamura groans, slapping the table.

"You can do _that_ with video editing?!" Sugaya exclaims, on the edge of his seats as they stare at Mimura's camera. Chiba and Hayami also look a little interested, peering at the small screen.

"How does that work?" Chiba asks.

"Oh, Hara, what's that?" Yoshida leans over, peering at the lunchbox in Hara's lap.

"Looks pretty good," Muramatsu praises.)

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

"It sure is tiring, trying not to stand out while travelling," Korosensei mops his non-existent brow with a hanky. Smiling, Nagisa turns back to her group, where Sugino is splitting up cards.

("Nagisa, here," Kayano passes Nagisa her cards.

"Thanks," Nagisa sorts through them. Not bad. Three threes, two fives, a king, an eight and two queens.)

"Then don't carry such a large bag," Okajima is saying to Korosensei. As usual, there's a ring of students around their blundering teacher, prepared to scold him.

"Lay off the sweets," Fuwa sounds amused, albeit annoyed.

"You already stand out enough," Kurahashi agrees.

"Isn't it risky for a state secret to be out in public?" Nakamura asks.

"Korosensei you have to be more responsible," Yada exclaims. "Don't miss your trains!"

"Nyaya!" Korosensei yelps.

("Two fives," Karma says, and Nagisa returns her attention to the card game.

"One six," Kanzaki places her card carefully.

"One five," Sugino drops his card onto the pile.

"One four," Kayano places a card onto the table, bouncing up and down.

"O-O-One five," Okuda stammers, nearly dropping her card as she tries to put it on the pile.

"Two fives," Nagisa puts her cards down and is about to turn her attention back to Korosensei when Sugino slams his hand on the pile.

"Bluff!" He says enthusiastically, flipping the two cards open. However, he deflates when he sees that they're both true. "Dang. _You_ bluffed, Okuda?"

"I-I had no choice!" Okuda yelps.

"And you too, Kanzaki?"

"I'm sorry...")

Nagisa smiles and peers around her seat to look at Korosensei...who suddenly looks more natural, a small snub nose on his face instead of his usual one. After listening in, Nagisa picks up the threads of the conversation.

"I carved it so that it'll match the curvature and the other features of your face," Sugaya is saying. Looks like the new nose is courtesy of him. "That kind of stuffs my speciality."

"That's amazing, Sugaya," Isogai praises.

"It's so cool how something so small can make him look all the more natural," Nakamura comments

"You always see new sides of people when you travel together," Kayano laughs as she picks out two cards from her hand and Nagisa jumps, refocusing on their table. ("Two jacks."

"O-One jack..." Okuda mumbles.

"Y-Yes," Nagisa smiles awkwardly, wondering why she feels a little guilty. "Depending on how this trip turns out, who knows what true colours will be revealed?" Staring at the pile of cards for a bit, she draws out a card. "One queen."

"King," Karma tosses his card.

"Four aces," Kanzaki gently sets down four cards.

"What?!" Kayano exclaims, staring at the four cards as though she can see through them and glare at the pattern below. " _Four_ aces?"

"Yes," Kanzaki tilts her head. "Something the matter?"

"She doesn't look like she's bluffing either," Sugino groans.)

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

Five games of bluff later (Three wins from Karma and two from Kanzaki), their fairly repetitive rhythm is disrupted.

"Hey, I'm going on a drink run," Kanzaki suddenly says. Sugino, who was staring at her, starts slightly and looks away, shuffling the card deck. "Does anyone want anything?"

"I-I'll go too!" Okuda raises her hand, looking embarrassed. Nagisa's noticed that the dark-haired girl is really shy.

"Me too~!" Kayano stands, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "You wanna come too, Nagisa? It can be a girls party!"

"I'll pass," Nagisa smiles sheepishly, waving at the three girls. "Could you get me some chrysanthemum tea, please? And um...Karma, are you thirsty?"

"I'm _dying_ here, Nagisa-chan," Karma sighs theatrically.

"And a strawberry milk, if they have it," Nagisa shuffles around, digging for her wallet.

"Oh, we'll pay first," Kayano waves her hand in a dismissive manner, and the three girls set off.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

As the three girls move out of their train compartment, Kanzaki bumps into someone.

"Oh, pardon me," She apologises, walking quickly past the person, a male who's very much taller than her and very much intimidating. Kayano all but runs past the male to catch up with Kanzaki, Okuda hiding her face with her hands. When they make it out of that area, they start talking again, unaware of the situation behind them...

"What school are _they_ from?" The male asks, three other male teenagers like him, probably his posse, coming out from where they had been lurking.

"Probably Kunugigaoka," One of his lackeys respond, snickering in a rather disgusting manner.

"Eh? So we got a whole bunch smart lads and ladies, huh?" Another one smirks, staring after the trio of girls.

"That one girl was pretty hot, don'tcha think?" The last one leers at the girls as well, particularly the one with long, dark hair, licking his lips.

"Say..." The leader begins to toss something up and down, something that looks like a blue notebook. "How about we teach them a lesson in Kyoto?" Catching the notebook, he smiles, a wide predator's grin.

The words on the notebook are simple. 'School Trip Itinerary: Kanzaki Yukiko'

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

(While that is happening -

"Why are you staying behind?" Sugino asks Nagisa, looking confused.

Nagisa shrugs, looking out of the window. "I don't know."

"Hey, Sugino, come here!" Maehara calls.

Standing, the baseball boy waves at them a little before he leaves.

"Now that he's gone and I don't have to embarrass myself in front of him," Karma pulls his bag up, extracting something from it. "Here, have your present."

"Karma..." Nagisa takes the satin pouch Karma hands her. "You...you didn't have to, you know?"

"Please. You keep getting me gifts, and I've gotta say, it's getting old," Karma rolls his eyes. Nagisa pulls at the pouch, then gasps.

Looking up, she beams at Karma. "Thank you!"

"Suits you, right?" Karma laughs, leaning forward and tugging on Nagisa's twintails. "I saw it the other day and thought that you might like it."

"It's very nice," Nagisa pulls out a hair tie with a pastel pink silk flower decorating it. _A nadeshiko, hah._ When they hand been in primary school, Karma had started up a fad with that word. "But I'm not sure that it's in the school's code of conduct."

"Screw the school," Karma groans. "Alway ruining my fun."

"Sorry, Karma," Nagisa slides the tie around her wrist. "But I'll have to use it as a bracelet for now.")

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

After Class E arrives in Kyoto (set up in a traditional inn while classes A through D are in a five star hotel), Korosensei promptly melts into a couch, looking green as he lets out a pitiful moan

"So...he gets all sick and groggy on trains and busses and stuff?" Mimura asks, looking thoroughly exasperated at their teacher.

"Seems like it," Nagisa sighs, pulling out her notebook.

 _Korosensei weak point #8:_ _He's prone to motion sickness_

As Okano, Kataoka and Isogai take turns stabbing at the exhausted Korosensei, he reveals something amazing.

"I'll have to pop back to Tokyo in a bit, anyway," Korosensei admits. "I forgot my pillow."

The thoughts of everyone is unanimous: 'All that stuff and he _still_ forgot something?!"

 _Korosensei weak point #9: Can't sleep without his own pillow_

"Well? Kanzaki-san, did you find the itinerary?" Kayano asks the other girl, who's frantically searching through her bag.

"Can't find it," Kanzaki shakes her head.

"Kanzaki-san, I commend you on your initiative in putting that itinerary together, all by yourself," Korosensei wheezes. "However, rest assured. As long as you have one of my handmade guidebooks, everything will be fine."

 _The whole point was to avoid having to carry one of those around, though,_ Nagisa sighs mentally.

"I _know_ I put it in my bag," Kanzaki groans, looking more upset than Nagisa has ever seen anyone. "Did I drop it somewhere?"

"On that note," Maehara speaks up, grinning at Nagisa. "That's a nice bracelet you have there, Nagisa."

"Nyuya! That is not within the school rules, Nagisa-san!" Korosensei yelps, regaining his energy. "Take it off-" Korosensei abruptly clamps a tentacle over his own mouth, disappearing from the room.

Sounds of someone throwing up is heard from another room.

"Uh..." Isogai speaks up after a while of the retching sound. "Do you think he's OK?"

"LET'S GO KILL HIM!" Maehara yells, dashing out of the room with his green knife held high up.

A resounding cheer fills the room as most of the class follows after him.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

 _The following day_...

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

"We can't come to Kyoto and _not_ have some green-tea warabimochi!" Kayano yanks on Sugino and Kanzaki's sleeves as the group moves around the next day, searching for good assassination spots. Laughing into her palm, Nagisa balances Korosensei's guidebook on her knee, flipping through it.

"Then why don't we put some poison in them?" Kanzaki suggests.

"What?!" Kayano leaps back from Kanzaki as though she has been burnt.

"Korosensei has a sweet tooth," Kanzaki explains.

"Nice! Use the local speciality to send him to the local cemetery," Karma laughs.

"What a waste of perfectly good warabimochi!" Kayano exclaims.

"If only there were a poison that worked on him," Kanzaki sighs.

"But I kinda wish we could just forget about the assassination this trip, y'know?" Sugino stretches. "I mean, look at all these sights!" He gestures at the large city around them. "What do _any_ of these have to do with assassination?"

Smiling mysteriously, Nagisa plays with the hair tie on her wrist. "You'll be surprised."

Dragging her group around Kyoto, Nagisa shows off all the famous sites of assassinations, ranging from Sakamoto Ryouma to Oda Nobunaga, reading aloud snippets from Korosensei's guidebook.

"Next up is the Yasaka shrine," Okuda mumbles.

"Oh, come on, let's take a break," Sugino whines, fanning himself.

"Yeah, Nagisa-chan's been dragging us everywhere. I want some sugary Kyoto coffee~" Karma agrees,

"Yeah! I totally agree! Let's follow Karma!" Kayano shouts, pumping her fist in the air.

"Eh? You sure you want to do that, Kayano-chan?" Karma laughs.

Behind them, Nagisa thinks she senses a bit of bloodlust, but when she turns, she doesn't see anyone.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

"Eh, Gion is practically deserted this far in," Kayano comments as the group moves down a narrow alleyway, completely deserted.

"A-um, should we be here?" Okuda swallows.

"It's fine," Kanzaki reassures...or tries to. It has the opposite effect on Nagisa. "With all these places that turn away strangers, not many people come here just to wander around, and you don't need a nice, unobstructed view." So if something were to happen, Nagisa shudders to think. No one would hear them, and no one would be able to see them, either.

"I'm a little frightened," Nagisa admits, sliding behind Karma, who smirks at her as she tugs at the silk nadeshiko on her wrist. "It seemed safe when we started walking in, but now I feel like the alleyway is going to eradicate us, or something."

"Aww, little Nagisa is scared? Want to hold my hand?" Karma turns to look at her, waggling his brows.

"If that's alright," Nagisa mumbles, sliding her hand into Karma's. As usual, his fingers are a little cold to the touch, but it works out fine since Nagisa's hands are always a little too warm. She looks ahead of the group, and spots a bicycle, covered by a scarlet red sheet, leaning against the wall, looking out of place in the desolate alleyway.

"I-I don't think he meant for you to really do that," Sugino smiles a little awkwardly as he stares at their joined hands.

"Y-Yeah," Okuda glances from Karma to Nagisa to their hands worriedly. "N-Nagisa, be c-careful."

"Oh let them be all couple-y," Kayano rolls her eyes before whipping out her phone, snapping a picture. "I'm sending this to Nakamura!"

"Kayano!" Nagisa flushes.

"Anyway," Kanzaki gestures at the alleyway, saving Nagisa from semi-embarrassment. "That's why this place was on the top of my list. It's perfect for an assassination."

"Nice one, Kanzaki-san!" Kayano laughs cheerfully. "You've really done your homework! So here's where we'll do the deed~!"

"'Perfect' is right," An unfamiliar voice sniggers as someone steps around the corner, no, three someones. All male. Three bulky teenagers with a leering smirks as they take in the junior high students in front of them. "So why're ya walkin' around somewhere that's ripe for kidnapping?"

"Something smells," Karma mutters under his breath. Nagisa doesn't respond, inhaling deeply as she unconsciously tightens her grip on Karma's hand.

Footsteps echo behind them.

Whirling around, Nagisa's eyes grow wider as she sees another group of teenages, they look like high school students, blocking off their exit. They're all taller than Karma and _wayyy_ wider, which makes her think that it's going to turn out badly. To make it worse, Karma does the one thing that scares Nagisa the most.

He releases her hand.

Immediately, Nagisa feels no small amount of panic as she reaches for him, but Karma moves automatically in front of the group, well, in front from one end, and away from her. "Something tells me that you fellows aren't here to sightsee," Karma's smile turns dangerous and Nagisa can sense the bloodlust leaking out of him.

"Well, we ain't here for you," The fattest one steps forward, drooling as he openly _ogles_ Kanzaki. "Hand over the girls and get los-" He closes his eyes for a second - less than a second - but that's all the time it takes.

Karma grabs the guys face, slamming him onto the ground, even though he's easily twice his size.

 _Karma, you idiot!_ Nagisa screams mentally. _If someone sees-_

"See, Nagisa-chan? Fighting's no problem at all when there's no witnesses," Karma turns to smirk at her as though he has read her mind. Behind him, however, one of the high school students scowls, pulling out a...

Oh.

 _God_.

"W-wha!" Unable to form words, Nagisa points behind Karma. The redhead makes a curious noise, turning to see one of the teenages holding a knife.

"You wanna get shanked?" He snaps, diving for Karma. The redhead merely tsks, snatching the sheet covering the bicycle Nagisa noticed earlier, tossing it in the teenages's face, causing him to freeze, confuse. When he does, Karma knocks him over with a simple push.

"Shanked?" Karma laughs. "You wish."

A hand covers Nagisa's mouth, and she's lifted against someone. Struggling, Nagisa tries to kick the person holding her. Next to her, Kayano is thrashing, trying to escape the hold of her captor, Kanzaki doing the same.

(Also, Kayano is the smallest, but apparently Nagisa is the lightest...)

"No!" Kanzaki yelps and Nagisa thanks every deity she knows that the high school students didn't cover Kanzaki's mouth.

Karma whirls around and Nagisa sees him bite his lip before gritting his teeth, diving towards the girls. "Fuck," he swears, bringing his fist up and-

"Yeah, fightin's no problem," The tallest teenager, probably the leader, snarls as he delivers a chop on Karma's neck, causing him to be knocked to the ground.

Nagisa's eyes widen and she struggles with renewed vigor.

Kayano shrieks first, thrashing as much as Nagisa is. Kanzaki is soon to follow, flailing about and hollering 'Help!', but there's no one to hear.

The teenagers not holding the girls form a ring around Karma, kicking him and laughing, taunting him with illicit comments about what they're going to do with the girls.

Nagisa screams into her captor's palm, then finally freaking _thinks_ , biting down onto his fleshy fist.

"Hoi, stop that!" Sugino rushes forward, only for one of the teenagers to kick him hard in the stomach, knocking him into the wall.

"Oww, fuck!" The high school student slaps her hard enough to nearly snap her neck, but Nagisa is - dare she say? - used to the pain, so she recovers immediately, kneeing him in the crotch.

"Karma-" Nagisa is grabbed again, this time with two people holding her. Kayano and Kanzaki's volume increases, their cries desperate.

"Knock her out, idiots," Someone screams.

"To the car, quick!" Another one of them instructs.

"That'll teach you junior high punks to mess with us," The leader snorts smugly, and Nagisa screams, loud and high and-

She doesn't get slapped, but they do gag her.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

"Sugino-kun, Karma-kun!" Karma's eyes snap open, taking in the grey sky. Leaping to his feet, he almost falls down again immediately due to the throbbing pain in his side.

"Karma-kun, calm down," The voice...Okuda? "Are you OK, Sugino-kun?"

"I'm so sorry..." Okuda mumbles. "I just ran and hid..."

Karma sits down, glancing around. The alleyway is empty, save for Okuda and Sugino. Sugino looks in pain, rubbing his stomach while he breathes heavily. Okuda just looks scared, not a single scratch on her. Irrationally, Karma feels livid that she had been so cowardly...but then again, she _is_ a girl. And those guys...they...

"It's OK, you did the right thing," He rubs the back of his head, which is stinging. "Those guys are no stranger to crime. Even the police would have trouble with them." Karma winces internally, thinking of Nagisa's wide, innocent eyes. "Besides..." _Those guys are who she's with now..._ He balls his hands up into fists, feeling his bloodlust build up in him. "I'd like to handle their execution myself..."

"But..." Sugino looks away, biting his lip. "How are we going to find them?"

"Uh..." Okuda looks around frantically. "Oh! Karma-kun, Sugino-kun! Look!" Okuda lifts up Korosensei's guidebook.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

"I called our buddies up," The leader stands in front of them, his freaking _smug_ face just begging to be punched. "Got everything ready for a commemorative photo shoot, too. Make as much noise as you want. No one'll hear you."

Nagisa looks away, working her jaw to loosen the gag. It's clear that they're in some kind of abandoned warehouse, and that's all she needs to know. There's no lighting, and all the items inside are just...broken.

"You," The leader calls suddenly, causing her to jump. "I thought I'd seen you somewhere before." He begins tapping something on his phone, before showing a picture to the three girls. "This is you right? In a Tokyo arcade last summer."

Nagisa gasps. On screen, a girl with a sour expression is glaring at the camera, her hair long and wavy, reaching mid-back. It's dyed in a black-gold gradient, and the girl is wearing a tiny pair of red shorts, leggings and a tank top, holding a bottle of soda. Although the girl looks practically nothing like Kanzaki now, there's no mistaking the reddish-brown eyes, even though on screen, they're hardened and angry on screen, while Kanzaki's eyes now are watery and sad.

"I wanted to kidnap you back then, but you slipped through my fingers," The leader continues, licking his lips. Nagisa narrows her eyes. _Last year, Kanzaki-san would only have been thirteen..._ "Who knew that you would be a student at a famous junior high?" Kanzaki swallows so loudly, Nagisa can hear it. "But hey, I get it. The higher up you are, the deeper you wanna fall," _What is he talking about?_ The gag slips from Nagisa's mouth, but she doesn't make a sound. Then the leader brings his ugly mug close to Kanzaki's, grinning widely and sadistically. "And from now until nightfall, I'm gonna teach you just _how_ much lower you can go."

Kanzaki's eyes waver, and Nagisa sees the fear in them. Scooching around, Nagisa manages to turn so that her back is facing Kanzaki's, and she grips the other fingers with her own.

 _Be strong..._

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"'What do I do when a group member has been abducted'," Sugino reads out loud, he, Karma and Okuda pouring over the thick red book. "Nagisa seems to have marked this page."

"I wonder why," Okuda smiles a little nervously. "Korosensei really thought of everything."

"Example~" Karma flips to a certain page. "'How do I recover from the shock of seeing souvenirs I bought in Kyoto being sold in a Tokyo department store?'"

"What else did he think of?" Sugino exclaims, looking weirded out and interested at the same time.

"Oh, I like this one~!" Karma clears his throat. "'How do I cope with seeing a lovey-dovey couple on the banks of the Kamo River when I'm forever alone?'"

"That's none of his business!" Sugino yelps.

"I don't know, singles like you definitely need it~" Karma taunts.

"S-Shut up!" Sugino is blushing something insane. "Look, let's focus!"

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Rowdy laughter fills the shady warehouse. Frowning, Nagisa shuffles so that she can't see the table where all the teenagers are gathered out of the corner of her eye.

"So...that picture. Even a model student like you went through a phrase, huh?" Kayano starts a conversation, watching the dark haired girl. "I didn't expect that."

"When you said different sides of people, Kayano, I don't think you meant this, huh?" Kanzaki smiles.

"Why did you do something like that?" Nagisa asks, staring at the taller girl. "You're very popular now, and very nice. Did something happen at home?"

"Yeah..." Kanzaki stops moving, averting her eyes from them. "My father was very strict. He was hellbent on my getting a good education and a prestigious position. I wanted to get away from that. I wanted to leave behind my elite school's uniform behind, so I changed my look and hung out where nobody knew me. Pretty stupid, right?" A shadow falls over Kanzaki's face, but she smiles bitterly, looking up and meeting first Kayano's eyes, then Nagisa's. "The only position I landed in after all that playing around was a seat in the End Class," Kanzaki returns her gaze to the ground, looking heartbreakingly sad. "I don't even know where I belong anymore."

"Kanzaki-san..." Nagisa wishes her hands aren't bounded together. Swallowing, she searches her brain for words. Since she's so fond of literature, one would expect Shiota Nagisa to have words in her pocket and between her fingers, but she does not. Finally, she decides to just wing it, saying whatever in the hopes that it will make Kanzaki feel better. "Kanzaki-san, I think that it isn't a bad thing that you are in the end class. You...we grow with every passing month, each passing day, right? And, well, *a year for one of us is different from a year for that who is an adult*. We grow faster, we change much more. You...Kanzaki-san is a very kind person. From your picture, I'm guessing you used to be rather bad tempered and rude?" Kanzaki's surprised look confirms what Nagisa has guessed. "Now you're very kind and diligent; you're a model student. Everyone in class likes you very much, but if you don't like yourself, you can work on changing yourself until you find what you think is the _best_ version of yourself. The version you like most. Your father can control you all he likes, but even he will have to let go one day. It...it doesn't matter if you're in the E Class. When you're grown up, the E Class will probably just be another memory, good or bad, it just depends. We...we are all growing, and it's easier for us to change now than if we were grown up and...and if you don't know where you belong, work to find a place you want to belong and carve your name there. Fight your way in and stay there, or find a community accepting of you. It doesn't really matter the road you take to get to a certain place, right? As long as you reach it. Because of that, I don't think it's a bad thing that you ended up in the E Class. We're all changing, day by day. You have to try your hardest, or, or...or you'll get lost."

Kanzaki and Kayano stare open-mouthed at Nagisa, who starts feeling self-conscious. She's not like Korosensei, who has the ability to pack a lesson behind every word, to teach and teach and teach...for the first time, Nagisa feels herself growing jealous of the yellow octopus of a teacher, who can verbalise properly.

"I'm sorry, I probably just confused you more, huh?" Nagisa smiles wryly.

"I..." Kanzaki shakes her head, beaming. "I think there is a message behind your words. It's faint, but it's there. I'll work on stringing it together," Kanzaki furrows her brows. "Maybe you used too many metaphors."

"Definitely," Kayano puffs out her cheeks in frustration. "You reminded me of a teacher there, Nagisa."

Nagisa blinks twice in surprise. "Ah, I'm not intelligent enough to be a teacher, Kayano."

"But it's not so easy to find somewhere you want to be," Kanzaki sighs, her long hair falling into her face. "I really don't know where I belong."

"How about hanging with us?" A voice cuts into their conversation, ruining the understanding and slightly light-hearted mood that passed between the girls. The leader smirks, leaning close to the girls "We don't give a shit 'bout prestige here. We drag those elitist bastards down to rock bottom. Or maybe we just put them back to where they used to be."

Nagisa lifts her head, glaring at the teenager in the eye. "What," She asks dryly. "You got lonely and lazy at the bottom and decided to hold a party? Well, I'm going to have to refuse your invitation." For a second, she feels empowered, like she's channeling her inner Karma, before she mentally slaps herself for saying something stupid. However, the momentarily stunned expression of the leader makes her feel an inkling of pride. _Maybe this is why Karma likes to make fun of people...though that doesn't make it right._

"Unfortunately, you're not allowed to say no," A hand grips Nagisa by the neck, but it's much gentler than her mother's grip. This person is being careful not to bruise her. "We may be really after that one, but you're pretty cute too. Both of you are," He nods to Kayano. "One of our pals, he likes little kids. A real lollicon. He'll have loads of fun with you."

Nagisa gnashes her teeth, they hadn't binded her feet, but if she makes use of it, they're going to bind her up like a pinata or something. Looking away, she hopes that her inner Karma acts up again.

"You're disgusting," The voice is low, whispered. Nagisa stares at Kayano in amazement, amazement that fades when the leader drops her on the floor.

The leader grabs and lifts Kayano by the neck instead, causing the green-haired girl to flail, struggling to breath, as the teenager grows low in his throat. "You some kind of elitist? Lookin' down on us like that?! Huh?!"

"Kayano!" Nagisa gasps.

"I'll drag you down to our level, alright!" The leader snarls, fligning Kayano onto the ratty couch. "Now, when you get back to your rooms, you girls will be all cool, like 'Oh, we just went out for karaoke an' stuff' do that, and nobody gets hurt. Let's get back together once we're all in Tokyo, OK? We can look over all the fond memories in the photos we're going to take."

Kayano and Kanzaki are quivering in fear.

Nagisa swallows thickly, looking away. "I'll pass," She whispers.

The leader's voice goes dangerous as he utters a soft, "What did you say?"

Nagisa closes her eyes. Thinks of Karma. Snapping them open, she faces the leader again. "I said I'll pass on that offer," Her voice is louder, firmer and she's glad that it doesn't shake.

The leader backhands her hard enough to send her flying a few feet. "Repeat that, I dare you."

Nagisa looks him in the eye, brilliantly defiant, "I said ' _I'll pass'_. Please understand that," She smiles sweetly. "I'm afraid to say that I already have a boyfriend."

Kayano snort-giggles somewhere to her left.

The door of the warehouse creaks open.

"Ah, our photographers have arrived," The leader smirks, leaning close to Nagisa. "I hope you will enjoy your time with the lollicon."

"I'm afraid I'll have to refuse," Nagisa says steadily. "You see, as I said before, I'm already seeing someone."

"Aaaannnnddd~ that's my cue~" A very familiar voice echoes in the warehouse, a _very familiar_ redhead stepping into the room, tossing in a teenager, who's heavily beat up. Karma's golden eyes gleam as he winks at Nagisa. "Missed me, _my za-rring(Darling)_?" He says the last two words in English, with a japanese accent, and Nagisa hides a smile.

"S-School trip guidebook, page 1,243: 'W-What do I do when a group member has been abducted?'" Okuda steps behind Karma, reading out loud from the thick guidebook, her voice shaky. However, there's a certain glint to her eyes that makes Nagisa glad that she's on her side. "'If you have no leads on the perpetrator, begin by using their accent and conversational topics to determine if they are from around the area. If not, and if they were wearing a school uniform, see page 1344'," Okuda frantically begin flipping the pages. "'You may be up against another student on a school trip, who's been stirring up trouble.'" Sugino appears from the doorway, stepping next to Okuda, Karma mirroring his movements. With a slight smile, Sugino cracks his knuckles (Instead of copying that, Karma merely stuffs his hands in his pockets).

"You're here!" Kayano exclaims, smiling brighter than the sun.

"How did you know we were here?!" The leader shouts angrily, diving in front of the girls.

"'A-As they will be unfamiliar with the area, the perpetrator won't travel far after the abduction. Rather, they will choose a secluded spot n-nearby. In such a situation, see page 134 of the appendix'." Okuda hesitates, flipping pages again.

"Show it to them," Nagisa whisper-yells.

"Right!" Okuda holds up the book, displaying a double spread map. "'My mach 20 bird's-eye-view map of common abductor hideouts may help.'"

"That guidebook's amazing! That's the perfect way to foil an abduction!" Sugino says excitedly.

"Well, I guess carrying one around _actually_ paid off," Karma shrugs nonchalantly.

Nagisa sneaks a peak at their kidnappers, all who look dumbstruck.

"What the hell kind of guidebook's that?!" They all shout in unison.

Nagisa laughs, causing Karma to glance at her.

"You alright, _my rittlu shortucaku(my little shortcake)_?" Karma asks, his brows drawing together. Nagisa nods, feeling amused at Kayano, Kanzaki, Sugino, Okuda and their kidnappers' confused faces.

"So, what's your next move, my friends? I mean, you've done so much already. I'd love to take you on a guided tour..." Karma's smile turns murderous. "Straight to the hospital..." Karma's bloodlust really is something scary, Nagisa muses.

The sound of heavy footsteps fill the room.

"Heh," The leader chortles, regaining his confidence. "You junior high brats think you're so tough. Well, here come the buddies I called," Nagisa watches as Sugino and Okuda peer over their shoulders anxiously. "They're badasses the likes of which you do-gooder brats have never..." A yellow tentacle snakes around the door, holding four knocked out delinquents. "Have never...WHAT?!"

"No badasses here, I took care of them all," Korosensei's voice fills the room, the rest of the octopus teacher coming soon after, a veil covering Korosensei's face.

"Korosensei!" Sugino looks so relieved, Nagisa almost laughs.

"Sorry I'm late," Korosensei tosses the delinquents away. "I had a detailed investigation of my own to take care of."

"Eh? Is Korosensei _finally_ getting married?" Karma asks, waggling his brows at the veil.

"Of course not. I simply cannot have you students associating my face with the violent acts that will follow," Korosensei explains, before flickering, dropping guidebooks into Karma and Sugino's arms.

 _Korosensei weak point #10: He worries about keeping up appearances_

Nagisa probably doesn't have to describe the following actions.

(But she will anyway:

After a loud, particularly idiotic outburst from the leader, Korosensei sets about to his...violent acts. The teenagers all charge at the teacher, yelling loudly.

"'Get real' you say," Korosensei muses, disappearing from the spot he had been in. Suddenly, he's slapping all the high school students across the faces with his tentacles, a hard expression on his face. "That's my line."

"What...did he do?" The leader mumbles. "He's too fast to see..."

 _Go, Korosensei,_ Nagisa cheers privately.

"You're too slow to swat a fly, let alone me," Korosensei's face is rapidly turning pitch black. "Keep your filthy hands off my students.

"So elite schools have elite teachers, huh?" The leader struggles to his feet. "You're lookin' down on us 'cause of ya rank, aren't ya? Making fun of me for going to some loser high school..." The leader charges at Korosensei, his posse following soon after, and Nagisa rolls her eyes internally because, well, he's just going to keep trying the same thing over and over again, huh, talking the same old rubbish.

"We are not elite," Korosensei knocks two teenager away, sending them into the wall. "Their school is famous, that's true," Korosensei grabs two teens by their necks, crashing their heads together. "But these students are seen as the school's pariahs; the mere name of their class is a subject for discrimination," Korosensei knocks out five teenagers at the same time, jumping up and performing a spinning kick with his tentacles. "However, they always keep a positive outlook in life," Korosensei continues completely _wiping_ the field. The leader lets out a battle call, dashing to Korosensei with a bottle in his hands. "They'll never drag others down with them, unlike you," Gathering up momentum, Korosensei releases it all, launching the leader across the room. "In the end, school and prestige mean nothing, be they in a clear stream or muddy water; the fish who swim in the right direction come up top." _Yes. That had been what Nagisa had been trying to communicate!_ "Now, students, let's take care of them! We'll teach them a lesson about the physical dangers on a school trip~!" Korosensei lifts a tentacle-finger.

The group of high school students are _just_ recovering, and Nagisa smiles when she sees the other three each picking two delinquents before slamming the guidebooks on their heads.

Overall, it's badass and amazing.)

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"Man, for a while there, I thought it wasn't going to go well," Sugino groans, rubbing the back of his head.

"Hmmm," Karma sighs. "If it had just been him and me, I'm sure it would've worked out."

"Him and _I_ , Karma," Nagisa corrects.

"Quit scaring me," Sugino grumbles.

"But _oh_ , thank goodness," Kayano fans herself, looking at the setting sun. "You OK, Kanzaki-san?"

"Yes, I'm fine," Kanzaki's voice is more self-assured and firm than Nagisa has ever heard it.

"What happened, Kanzaki-san?" Korosensei asks.

"Eh?"

"No one would blame you for being shaken after that incident, however, the only thing that seems to be shaken is your hesitation."

Kanzaki smiles wide, her cheeks turning a light pink. "That's right, Korosensei. And thank you," Kanzaki bows, before turning to Nagisa and bowing again. "And thank _you_ Nagisa. I finally understood what you meant."

"Not a problem," Korosensei smirks. "Nurufufufufu, now, shall we carry on with our school trip?"

"After we confirm something with Kanzaki-san," Kayano lifts a finger, grinning at Kanzaki. "Is it OK if I call you by your given name?"

Kanzaki looks surprised before she beams. "Yes!"

"Can I too?" Sugino asks, blushing.

"Of course," Kanzaki turns her beam on Sugino, who's blush intensifies.

"Then, let's go, Yukiko," Kayano laughs cheerfully. "You can call me 'Kaede' if you want!"

"I'll call you that as well, then," Nagisa nods, trying out the names in her head. Kanzaki...no, Yukiko seems overwhelmed, she's beaming and just overly _pleased._ Kaya...Kaede looks just as happy, practically skipping as she walks.

"Can I as well?" Okuda shyly asks.

"Duh, Manami-chan!" Ka..Kaede throws her arms around Okuda, beaming. "And you'll be Manami."

As the group begin to walk off, Nagisa thinks that this is actually rather nice.

"Oh yeah, our group never really got our assassination attempt," Karma comments, swinging at Korosensei with his blade,

"Well, it wasn't really the time and place..." Okuda...Manami says.

"It's fine, we'll just kill him again tomorrow!" Karma laughs.

"Nurufufufufu, I hope you can..."

...

"WAIT!" Kayano suddenly stops in her tracks, whirling around. "Karma-kun, you called Nagisa 'my darling' and 'my little shortcake' just now, right?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Karma says breezily, still swinging at Korosensei.

"And Nagisa!" Nagisa jumps, sliding behind Korosensei quickly, as though that would help her. "You said 'I already have a boyfriend', and 'I'm already seeing someone' just before Karma said 'And that's my cue~'," Kayano tries to imitate their voices. "So is it possible that-"

"Nyuya! A love affair?!" Korosensei exclaims, moving at mach speed to Nagisa. "Are you and Karma going out? Sensei wants to know! All the nitty, gritty details, please! Don't skim on a single one!"

Nagisa turns as bright as Karma's hair and groans, moving to the redhead. Before Korosensei can glomp her with anymore questions, Nagisa throws her arms around Karma and buries her red face into his shirtfront.

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 **If you don't know what A lolicon is, it's when someone is attracted to young kids or people who look like kids.**

 **Faces at the end:**

 **Kanzaki's face:** **(O/O)**

 **Kayano's was something like : (*´︶｀*)**

 **Karma's was :** ** **( ͡**** ** **͜ʖ ͡°) [** **Not sure if you can see it, but it's a lenny face.]****

 **Nagisa's is: (✿ꈍ。 ꈍ✿)**

 **Sugino's was: ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯**

 **Review replies~**

 _ **GingerHale:** Yay, you can log in again ^^ XD Yes my dignity was sprained. *nods seriously* To make it worse, I wasn't alone *hides face* _and _I was trying to sneak up to my friend, and what happens? I fall down the stairs. My dignity is throbbing right now_

 ** _Xenocanaan_** _: Yes, Nagisa is always being caused embarrassment XD (Usually by Karma Lol)_

 ** _Konan248:_** _Thank you ^^ Yes, she had to deal with twice the Akabane. You know, I really wanted to start the chapter off with a nerf war with Karma's parents? It would've been interesting *sigh*_

 ** _Danget the critic:_** _Is that really a ghost? It's so cute! *picks up the ghost and puts it on a shelf* I'm going to kidnap it from your review lol It's too cute to stay there (And thank you XD for the compliment, BTW)_

 ** _Roseheart37819:_** _Yes, you have reviewed XD Thank you ^^_

 ** _Princess630:_** _Lolololol I think I shocked everywhere with that kiss scene:D BOO YAH XD_

 ** _NagiKae:_** _I read your username four times in confusion. Hi lol thank you for reading a fic that is Karmagisa instead of Karunagi I guess XD (And not smoking me XD) thank you very much ^^ If you try hard with your story I'm sure it will turn out fine! My friend (Her writing is amazers) says that the more your write, the better you get, and that you can train yourself to get better. It just takes time and a lot of scrapped documents. So have a try rewriting your works :P_

 ** _Shiranai Atsune:_** _Yay! Thanks! The poem...I'm lazy and can't rhyme, so I just wung it lol (In other words, didn't write it at all) XD and yes, Maehara didn't figure it out. Nagisa and Karma seem to be (to me) the type of couple that everyone_ ships _together in class but no one expects them to_ actually _be dating and when it turns out they are the girls are all caught in a storm of fangirlism, and the boys are just like WTB DID NOT SEE THAT COMING_

 _ **Amaya Kuruta:** Oh gosh, are you OK? QUICK WE NEED ICE! Haha, happy to be of (fan)service :3 Karma kissing Nagisa with Bitch-sensei and Maehara around because he doesn't listen to anyone and wants to rub it in Maehara's face - I MEAN, because he's a total badass XD (Yay! Hugs lol)_

 ** _FlamingAngel525:_** _Hahahahahaha I'm actually rewatching the anime as I'm writing this, so you have fun doing that XD Hope you enjoyed this chapter (*whispers* Karma x Nagisa is my second favourite ship, after Chiba and Hayami)_

 ** _Guest (On chapter 6):_** _Yay! Here's another new one XD How Maehara reacted to Karma kissing Nagisa...well, I'll leave that up to your imagination nurufufufu :D (Yes, exams are the worst, but hey, it's a part of life. Besides, they're over and papers have been given out this week. So far, so good for my marks ^_^)_

 _ **HappyGuy** : Thank you! I hope you liked this chapter :3_

 ** _DeceivingAura:_** _(Quick question, who do you deceive with your aura? I'm curious sorrs) Back to the point: How hard it is to stop yourself from laughing...AHAHAHAHAHA LOL Bless, bless, I hope your family doesn't think you're going nuts, apologies if they do *bows* but thank you so much! I like fem!Nagisa fics too, but the site doesn't have many of them *dramatic flop on couch* And no, you will never know what was on the poem :3 because I'm evil like that. *Springs up* thank you so much XD Nagisa's mom will still be, well, herself, but I'm not going to make her as evil as me, I mean *coughs into fist*, as evil as some people portray her because, like, every villain has a reason, right? And she wasn't so bad after they resolved their problems. Anyway, (sorry for the mini babbling) I hope you liked this update! :3_

 _ **Lizzy7258:** Thank you very much! XD Karma and fem! Nagisa are pretty cute, huh? *self praise*_

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 _Extrasssss:_

 _Sugino's (nightmare of a) trip to the mall with Nakamura, Fuwa, Maehara, Okajima and (of course) Karma from chapter 6_

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"Whoa, that girl's pretty good looking," Okajima pointed at a girl with platinum blonde hair and dark eyes. She's the curviest person Sugino has ever seen, but all the same, he still feels that Kanzaki is prettier.

"Yeah, check out her body," Maehara laughs.

"Please, she's too old for you," Fuwa dismisses. "Besides, she already has a boyfriend, look!"

"I've seen prettier people," Nakamura sighs, examining each girl that walks past. "This mall doesn't have a good selection of females."

"Should you be checking out other girls, Nakamura?" Sugino asks.

"Nope, but it's not a crime-OH!" Nakamura exclaims, pointing at a dark haired girl walking around the mall. "There!"

"She looks around our age," Fuwa taps her chin. "And single, see? She's queuing up to buy food on her own. Maehara, do your magic."

At that moment, Maehara's phone rings. "Oh, Kaho-chan!" Maehara exclaims, making an apologetic face at the other five as he moves to the side. "Yeah, I'm at the mall. You want to meet up?"

"No choice," Nakamura sighs. "Karma!"

"No, she's not my type," Karma shakes his head. "Okajima, go pick her up."

"H-Huh?" Okajima stammers, looking nervous suddenly. "OK! I'll do my best!" Racing forward, Okajima begins to speak to the dark-haired girl.

"OK, Sugino, what kind of girls do you like?" Nakamura asks, slinging an arm around him.

"H-Huh?" Sugino exclaims, trying to escape from Nakamura.

"C'mon, you can tell me~" Nakamura weedles. "Fuwa?"

"Do you like Nagisa, Sugino?" Fuwa has a notebook out, an evil smirk on her face.

"What?! No! She's like my younger sister!" Sugino begins sweating. They'll find out about his crush on Kanzaki at this rate.

"What about light-haired, tall girls, like me?" Nakamura questions.

"Or dark-haired shorter girls? Like Okano," Fuwa asks.

"Do you like shorter or taller girls?"

"Light or dark hair?"

"Chest wise, small, medium, or large?"

"Slim or slightly plump?"

"Pretty or average or cute?"

"Tsundere or Dandere or Yandere or Kuudere or Deredere or Himidere?"

"Uh..." Sugino tries to interrupt, but the girls just talk over him.

"Mature or childish?"

"Intelligent or on the slightly ditzy side?"

"H-Hey...!" Sugino tries again.

"Wild cards or quieter ones?"

"Laughing or smiling?"

"Darker skin or pale?"

"Athletic or not?"

"Carefree or concerned?"

"Science or humanities."

"Shorter girls," Karma suddenly interrupts, causing the two girls to go silent. "Shorter girls with light hair colours and I don't really care about their breast size or waistline. Cute, obviously, and someone who's delicate and sweet and shy, so I guess Dandere mixed with Deredere. A mature girl who has her childish moments and is smart, but not as smart as I am, of course. Quieter people sometimes are really interesting. Smiling. Pale skin. Don't really care about athletics. Already said that I like someone more mature, so obviously concerned. Humanities. That's my ideal girl."

Sugino stares at Karma open-mouthed while Fuwa scrawls everything down.

"Fuwa, did you get all that?" Nakamura asks after a pregnant pause.

"Yes!"

"Now that I've responded, Sugino, you have to reply too~!" Karma says simply.

"D-Dang it," Sugino closes his eyes, but Fuwa shoves a pencil into his hand.

"I wrote all the questions down! Just write your reply, and Nakamura and I will try to guess who it is that you like and get you both together!" Fuwa's face goes all...gooey, her smile overly large.

Hesitantly, Sugino accepts the pencil, gently pressing it against the paper. Unbidden, an image of Kanzaki forms in his head.

 _Tall, dark haired girls,_ He writes, _average chest size maybe on the larger side a bit, pretty. I don't know what those '-dere' things are, mature and intelligent, quieter side, smiling, pale skin, average in athleticism; I hope that she likes baseball, concerned, humanities._

"Ohh~!" Nakamura snatches the notebook back from Sugino, reading through his replies. "Very much similar to Karma's, huh? Only he wanted someone with a little bit of everything."

Karma sticks out hi tongue in reply.

"This fits Kanzaki-san~!" Fuwa hums, peering over Nakamura's shoulder.

"I-It does?" Sugino hadn't expected them to pick up on it so fast.

"Oh, it _does_ ," An evil grin works it's way on Nakamura's face. "Interesting..."

"Do you have a crush on Kanzaki, Sugino?" Karma asks.

"W-What?!" Sugino yelps.

"He does~!" Fuwa and Nakamura immediately pull out a wide variety of notebooks. "Let's match them up, Fuwa!" Nakamura laughs.

"Yes!" The two girls launch into their planning.

"Hey, you both!" Sugino groans, hiding his face behind his hands. "W-W-Wait! Which girl matches with Karma's description?!"

"In our class?" Nakamura and Fuwa pause. "Nagisa, probably."

"Really?" Karma seems thoroughly amused by this.

"OK, Sugino, we have a plan," Nakamura grins evilly. "Let's begin, shall we?"


	8. Chapter 8

**Warning: Remember that first names are now used for Kanzaki, Kayano and Okuda (Yukiko, Kaede and Manami respectively) ^^ Also well, lotsa gossip :3**

 **Oh! And this is a pretty short chapter, by my standards. But I ate a lot of sugar and the next thing I know, the number of words doubled, soooo now it's average.**

 **I realise I'm some kind of semi-undercover-sorta-sadist. I keep embarrassing Nagisa. I'm so weird lol XD Oh well #CantStopWontStop**

 **(Maybe I should try embarrassing Karma next...hmm...)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own assassination classroom, but I own the knowledge some weird facts:**

 **Horrible Fact: Sugar is bad for you. Like badder than most would think. (AND I LOVE SUGAR!) [Also don't eat low fat products. They maintain the taste by putting more sugar, which makes it unhealthier than one would thing^^]**

 **Average fact: In my docs, I titled this _'_** _Chapter 8: WOW LOL IMMA HAVE FUN XD'_

 **Fun fact: Tanaka and Takada (the class D bullies) were based off two students who used to bully Matsui Yuusei**

 **Weird/intriguing fact: There's a word** _'Syzygy'_ **which means the alignment of celestial bodies. Yay!**

 **Oh: Words in dialogue that are** _italicized_ , **and have** () **next to them, are said in english.**

 **Example:** _shortucaku_ (Shortcake)

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

 _The last night of the Kyoto trip ~~_

"Yukiko, come on! If you don't hurry, we won't get to gossip with all the other girls! They all left _first_ ," Kaede complains, already dressed in the provided yukata. "Nagisa, you're even worse!"

"I'm sorry..." Nagisa adjusts the yukata around her, pulling the jacket over it. Undoing her twintails, she does her hair up in a ponytail with the hair tie from Karma and she checks herself over. Yukata, done. Hair, done. "OK, I'm done. Do you require help, Yukiko?"

"It's fine," Yukiko fixes her yukata, squirming slightly. "It's still torn at the bottom, but that's alright..."

"But it's kind of your fault they're taking so long, Kaede," Manami laughs awkwardly. "You had to specially call for the smallest yukata they had for adults, and you made us all wait. And then, you-"

"You had to get one too!" Kaede exclaims, waggling her finger at Manami. "Don't scold me!"

"But Kaede! You accidently tore the bottom layer Yukiko's yukata and went all nuts!" Manami waves a long strip of blue cloth, previously attached to the bottom of Yukiko's yukata, in Kaede's face, frowning.

"That wasn't _my_ fault!"

"If you brought a sewing kit, I can reattach the edge," Yukiko offers, trying to stop the two smaller girls from bickering.

"Oh, I have one," Nagisa speaks up, squirming in her yukata again. It's a little too big. "Wouldn't it be easier for us to just ask for a new one?"

"Let's just _GO!_ " Kaede explodes, grabbing onto the two taller girls and pulling them out of the room, to the baths.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

The four girls stand in an empty bath room.

"See! We missed all the other girls!" Kaede whines.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

 _Beep beep beep beep_

The arcade room in the traditional inn is filled with the sounds of a game, and buttons being pressed rapidly.

"Wow, how the heck are you dodging all of those?" Sugino asks, eyes shining.

Kaede, Manami, Sugino and Karma are standing in a loose circle around Yukiko, watching in amazement as she completely dominates the game she's playing.

"This is...a little embarrassing..." Yukiko laughs lightly, her fingers still pressing the buttons as her other hand moves the joystick around rapidly.

"She's smiling gently while moving her hands like a pro," Sugino grins, looking proud.

From where she's sitting on the floor, reattaching the earlier-torn layer of Yukiko's yukata as the other girl plays her arcade game, Nagisa grins.

"Wow! I had no idea that you were so good at games like this, Yukiko," Manami exclaims, watching the screen excitedly.

"I keep it quiet. In my family, frivolity is frowned upon," Kanzaki's voice is steady, which makes Nagisa smile softly, finishing up her last stitch. "But maybe I've been too worried about what others think. Clothes, hobbies, status...I ran from it, got swept up in it, and wound up lacking confidence. But Korosensei helped me realise...you just need the person you are on the inside to face forward and do their best."

Nagisa stands, packing away her needles and thread. Now that she can see Yukiko's game playing up-close-and-personal, it looks pretty darn cool. She's smiling calmly and gracefully while acing a game like no one's business. It's nice that the class's _perfect_ student ended up a little unperfect, with her own unique traits. An unexpected side to her, that just makes her more fun.

"Ah! They got you..." Kaede groans, watching as Yukiko's character, a little fighter-jet-plane-thing gets shot.

"That's too bad," Yukiko replies simply.

"You want to try out the game, Karma?" For now, Nagisa decides not to think too much.

"Don't know, _shortucaku_. I don't want to lose to a girl. It's ego-damaging," Karma taps his chin. "Oh, I'll play if Sugino and Okuda-chan does."

"Hah?!" Sugino gasps, mock-glaring at Karma. "I'm horrible at video games!"

"Let's all play!" Manami suggests, beaming.

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"Annnnddddddd, Takebayashi bites the dust!" Mimura exclaims, pumping his fists in the air, table tennis paddle in one hand. "Who's next, huh?"

"You didn't have to announce it," Takebayashi complains, adjusting his glasses. "For that, I shall embarrass you."

"I'd like to see you try~!" Mimura's clearly giddy off all his wins (undefeated), because he doesn't see Takebayashi glance over at Karasuma, in a yukata like all of them are, sorting through papers.

"Would you like to play, Karasauma-sensei?" Takebayashi asks, offering a paddle to the serious man.

Mimura chokes on his own saliva.

Karasuma looks like he might refuse at first, before he closes his eyes, opens them and smiles. "Sure. I'm pretty good, though."

"Takebayashi!" Mimura wails.

"Good luck man," Maehara pats the other teen on the elbow. "I'll go get some popcorn-"

"I've got some," Isogai offers.

"Let the steamrolling begin!" Maehara drags Isogai to the couches, where the two boys sprawl with popcorn.

"Let me join too, you pig," Okano appears from nowhere, shoving Maehara by his shoulder.

"No way. You'll just eat all the popcorn, you ape."

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?"

"Now, now, Okano-san," Isogai tries to calm the livid girl down. "Hiroto, swap with me."

"Sure, Yuma, I don't want to sit next to a _golirra_ (gorilla), anyway," Maehara stands, waiting for Isogai to move over before her squeezes into the space the other boy left behind.

"Hiroto!" Isogai yells, frantically holding down Okano, who's trying to dive for the tawny-haired boy.

After a bunch of unsuccessful launches, Okano stops and bats her eyelashes, something that is even scarier than her anger. "Maehara, would you like to repeat that?"

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"This traditional inn is a real dump, isn't it?" Okajima complains, walking with Nagisa, Yukiko and Sugino.

"It's charming," Yukiko corrects.

"But one big room each for boys and girls?" Okajima shakes his head. "All the _other_ students get personal hotel rooms."

"Well, they're also horrible people," Sugino points out.

"And it's more fun this way," Nagisa smiles.

"Indeed. Nakamura said something about an 'emergency girls meeting'," Yukiko nods seriously.

"But _personal_. Where am I going to hide my porn-"

"I'm going to stop you there," Sugino covers Okajima's mouth. "You're in the presence of a lady.'

"Yes, don't sully Yukiko's mind," Nagisa scolds.

"i think you need to worry about yourself, Nagisa," Yukiko laughs, then pauses. As they rounded the corner, they saw a head of blonde hair disappearing behind the curtain of the males' baths.

"Oh no."

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

" _What_ are you doing?" Nagisa quite nearly facepalms when she sees the five students inside the preparation area.

Nakamura and Fuwa she expected. Karma...well, he's Karma. Even though his yukata's kinda open in the front, and he's holding his obi in one hand with his jacket draped over the other...well, he's Karma. Something like that is more or less normal for someone like him.. But she hadn't thought that Yada or Hayami would be part of something like this. Or at least what something like this seemed to be.

"Oh, hey _my_ _rittlu_ _shortucaku_ ," Karma finger-waves when he sees her, picking a thin towel from the rack and draping it over his arm. "I was going for a bath. Don't know why _these_ girls are here."

"Shhh!" Fuwa scolds.

"W-Why are we doing this again..." Yada groans.

"I believe that Nakamura had one of her strange 'brainwaves'," Hayami makes air quotations with her fingers. "And so we're here."

"No, I mean, why are _we_ doing this."

"Shh!" Fuwa and Nakamura shush the other girls again.

"Because of the lottery," Hayami reminds Yada.

"Uggghhh. I should've picked C."

"Indeed."

"Wait, _what_ is going on?" Sugino held his hands up in a 'time-out' manner. "Why are there girls in the boys' baths?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Nakamura grins, her eyes glinting with malicious intent. Nagisa resists the urge to run away and warn the inn owners. "We're peeping."

Ok, the urge is even stronger now.

"Hey! That's our job!" Okajima exclaims, pointing at himself.

"I wouldn't say, it's _anyone'_ s job, per se..." Nagisa sighs.

"Nagisa stay away from the gross thing," Hayami tugs Nagisa's elbow, so that she's nowhere near Okajima. "Kanzaki, you too."

"U-uh...Alright..."

"Anyway, look!" Nakamura jabs a finger to a set of familar robes. "Clothes hung like that mean that their wearer is in the baths!"

"OK, so?" Sugino asks.

"You catching my drift?" Nakamura grins widely as Fuwa begins sniggering. "This is our chance to see what Korosensei is made of. Does he have some kind of body, or does he just have tentacles all the way down?"

"Oh lord no," Sugino groans.

"Oh my," Karma's smile grows. "This'll be interesting."

"On that note of _peeping,_ and _clothes_ ," Nagisa takes quick steps to Karma. "Fix your yukata when other people come in!" Readjusting the front, Nagisa frowns, taking the obi from Karma. "Don't be indecent!" Tying it around his waist, Nagisa is irritated to find that she has to bend down.

"Jealous?" Karma whispers down to her.

"Huh? Of what?" Nagisa gives Karma a confused look before she turns back to Nakamura, Fuwa and co. (All of them are staring at her strangely)

"Really, Nakamura, we shouldn't be doing this! Girls aren't allowed in boy's baths," Yada whispers as the blonde girl leads the large party through the preparation-room-thing.

"Why? What's the harm? We're not perverts, except Okajima," Fuwa states matter-of-factly. "So we're not actually doing anything unlawful. Besides, who knows? This could even help us assassinate him!"

"This has to be the least sexy act of peeping ever," Okajima complains.

"Speaking of peeking," Hayami speaks up. "I thought I saw a pervert in the girls bathroom earlier."

"What?!" Nagisa whisper-shouts. "Really? I'm glad we didn't go with the other girls, Yukiko."

"Yes, that was a blessing in disguise," Yukiko agrees.

"We had to go in in small groups, anyway," Fuwa laments. "The room was _wayyyyy_ too small."

"But it was fun! We gossiped and stuff through the door," Nakamura waves her hand dismissively.

"Eh? Okajima was peeping on the girls?" Karma asks.

"Yes. I threw a bar of soap at him before anyone could notice," Hayami admits. "He took a few pictures, though."

"Okajima..." Yada hisses, sounding scary.

"Shh!" Nakamura reaches the sliding door that links the prep-room-thing with the small bath room. The bath room is filled with steam. "Hohoho, we've got you now Korosensei~" Nakamura slowly slides open the door.

 _And..._

They're greeted with the sight of light pink Korosensei in a pink bubble bath, scrubbing his tentacle.

"Is he a girl?" Nakamura yells, instantly giving them away.

"Nakamura-san!" Nagisa exclaims.

"Hello students!" Korosensei greets, turning to face them all.

"Ah, Korosensei!" Karma calls, walking further into the room. "I want to take a bath, if you don't mind."

"Most certainly not. Go ahead, Karma-kun," Korosensei continues cleaning himself off.

"What's with the bubbles?" Sugino asks, his face completely overwhelmed with exasperation.

"You're not supposed to add things to the water here," Yada sighs.

"This is my mucus. It raises a nice, thick lather and deep-cleans stubborn dirt!" Korosensei sounds like an advertiser, Nagisa notes.

"Eh? Sounds cool," Karma slides off his jacket, dropping it to the ground. Nagisa blinks. What's he doing...? He undoes the obi. Only when Karma undoes the front of his yukata does she understand.

"Karma, no!" Nagisa dives forward, seizing Karma's wrists and squeezing her eyes shut. "Karma, don't just undress! There are girls here!"

"I'm sure they won't mind," Karma gently twists his wrists out of Nagisa's hold.

Nagisa covers her eyes with her hands, spinning around to where she thinks the rest are and peeping through her fingers. Hayami and Yukiko's backs are facing the bath room, both girl's also shielding their eyes. Yada is red from her neck to the tips of her ears, staring behind Nagisa (and probably at Karma) with a slack jaw. Nakamura and Fuwa are taking down notes. Also probably on Karma. Sugino is just conversing with Korosensei, sort of 'meh' with the whole situation. The only person who looks bothered is Okajima, who's staring with jealousy at where Karma's midsection would be, if Nagisa could see him.

" _Please_ tell me you're not naked," Nagisa whispers when she hears the sound of cloth hitting the ground.

"Nope."

Nagisa peels her fingers away from her eyes, turning to look at Karma. To her relief, his...lower half is covered with a towel (who knows how he got it? Nagisa doesn't). With an airy grin, borderline _evil smirk_ , he shoves his clothes into her arms. His clothes, which are _soggy_ from being on the _wet_ and _soapy_ ground of the bath room. Into her arms. "Well, I'm going to take a bath."

Nagisa resists the urge to chuck the wet clothes at Karma, instead taking three, deep breaths.

Now that her head is cleared, she will be mature about this. Mature. Leaving the bath room with Karma's clothes in her arms, Nagisa takes another three, deep breaths.

 _Be mature about this._

"Excuse me?" Nagisa asks the first guest she passes by. "Do you perhaps know where the nearest fireplace is?"

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ

"Korosensei, you slipped up," Nakamura speaks up when Nagisa leaves, a wide smile on her face. "We're between you and the exit-"

"Hang on," Karma interrupts, but Nakamura talks over him.

"When you get out, you'll have to pass us," Nakamura crosses her arms, smile growing.

"Nakamura, shut up," Karma starts again.

"We might not be able to kill you, but we _w_ _ill_ see you naked!" Nakamura yanks out her green knife.

"Use your brains, jeez," Karma sighs, running his fingers through his hair. No one acknowledges him.

"I teacherly object!" Korosensei exclaims. Springing up, there's a strange green jelly thing around him in the shape of the bath.

"Jellied broth?" Nakamura yelps.

"His mucus, I imagine," Hayami says matter-of-factly.

"Ewwwwwwww," Fuwa grimaces.

"Do you guys _not_ have brains?" Karma speaks to no one in particular, still being ignored.

"Oh, dear, I'm starting to feel a little cold," Korosensei observes, springing from the bath and squeezing out of the window, which had been open a crack.

"The window was open the whole time...?" Okajima's jaw drop.

"He got away," Yada lets out a huff.

"The whole peeping thing didn't work out, Nakamura," Sugino shrugs.

"And this is what happens when no one listens to me," Karma sighs. "I'm going to take a bath. Feel free to stay and watch."

They all clear out.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ

As Nagisa is returning to the girls' room, Karma calls her.

"Oh, hi," Nagisa picks up immediately, wondering what the reason for this call is. "Is there anything I can do for you, Karma?"

"Nagisa, where's my clothes?" Karma asks, sounding worried. "You didn't do anything, did you?"

"'Where are my clothes', you mean. Oh, they're in the fireplace," Nagisa turns around. "I'll go fetch them."

"WHAT?!"

"Huh? Karma, are you alright?"

"Nagisa, you just said that my clothes are in the fireplace. Like the yukata provided? By the inn?"

"Yes?"

"..." Karma sighs, long and hard. "Why on earth did you..."

"Do you want me to get them?"

"Don't bother. Just get me a new set."

"Uh, OK?" Nagisa furrows her brows, walking to the main desk. _Well, Karma's yukata_ had _been pretty dirty since he dumped it on the floor of the baths, so maybe that's why he asked for a new one,_ she reasons to herself.

"I'll be in the baths." Karma hands up. He must be angry at her, but she doesn't know why.

Instead, Nagisa fetches a new set of yukata, feeling a little bummed out that she sort of wasted some of her efforts. Arriving at the men's baths, Nagisa knocks lightly, covering her eyes with one hand while stretching the other out, the yukata set draped over it.

The door is flung open.

"About time," Karma grumbles, taking the new set from Nagisa.

Nagisa keeps her hands over her eyes. "Are you finished?"

"Yeah," An arm drapes around her, and Nagisa closes her eyes as Karma nuzzles into her hair. "I didn't notice, but you did your hair with my present."

"Well, it's allowed now," Nagisa murmurs. "Kaede's going to french braid it later, she said it's long enough."

"It looks nice," Karma presses a kiss to her head.

"Thank you," Nagisa smiles, reaching up to touch the silk flower. "I thought that it might look too obvious."

"Nah," Karma and Nagisa begin walking, and Nagisa opens her eyes, leaning against Karma. "You know, shortucaku if you're upset when I make you do stuff, you can just _say_ so instead of burning my clothes."

"What?" Nagisa pulls away from Karma, staring at him in confusion as they walk. "I didn't burn your clothes."

"You said you put them in the fireplace," Karma says slowly.

"Yeah, to dry," Nagisa blinks innocently at Karma.

"...To dry?"

"Yeah, there was some gross bacteria on it, so I borrowed some detergent soap and washed it. But it was wet, hence, I received permission from the inn owner to hang it inside the fireplace area to dry."

"...Why is the fireplace lit? It's near summer," Karma flings his arms up in the air, looking exasperated but also relieved.

"I don't know...wait, you thought I burnt your...!"

"Ugh. Let's go get some drinks. I'm ready to get crunked up on sugar," Karma passes a hand over his face, his cheeks red.

"Karma, you can't eat too much sugar," Nagisa reprimands.

"Right now, I need it, so mind your own," Karma taps Nagisa's nose.

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"Wait, were you worried that I had pent-up anger and was taking it out by burning your clothes?!" Nagisa exclaims while the two are at the vending machine, suddenly realising what Karma had been insinuating.

"Yeah," Karma admits, looking away from the blue haired girl to hide his red cheeks. Crouching, he picks up his drink.

"Aww," Nagisa kneels next to him, taking his hands. "You're too sweet Karma," she kisses his cheek, since he's refusing to look at her, and she almost gets confuse because Karma turns as red as his hair. "Ah! Karma, are you alright? Do you have a fever?" Nagisa places her hands on either sides of Karma's face, turning him to face her. When he does, she rests her forehead against his, worried. Thankfully, Karma's temperature is normal. "Ah, thank goodness," Nagisa sighs in relief, releasing Karma's face. Neither of them move from their close proximity.

Then Karma sighs, leaning back a bit.

"I deeply dislike you at times," He covers his red face.

"Sorry," Nagisa mumbles. "What did I do?"

"You're too cute..." Karma groans, his face turning an even brighter shade of scarlet.

"Karma?" Nagisa tilts her head.

"Ah, screw it," Karma sets his hand on her cheek, his other wrapping around her, pulling her closer as he plants a kiss on her lips.

Nagisa is hesitant to reciprocate, slowly reaching out to Karma and...

 _Anyone can see them,_ She realises suddenly, along with one other fact.

 _And I don't really care anymore_.

The time spent in the Assassination Classroom, Class E, so far has taught her that she shouldn't been overly self-conscious.

So she comes up with a solution.

"Karma?" She whispers, pulling back a little.

"Yeah?" He asks just as softly, his face still scarlet, although less so.

"I don't mind if you tell the others about us."

"...Come again?"

"You don't have to hide the fact that we're dating anymore."

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"As expected, Kanzaki-san is first place," Isogai picks up the survey results. "Yada is second."

"Kurahashi is third?" Kimuda sounds surprised.

"And Kayano got two votes..." Mimura whispers, astounded.

"A bunch of girls didn't get votes," Sugaya tutts. "That's too bad."

"Kanzaki really is popular," Maehara shrugs. "I'm guessing she ate up most of the votes. Nice job getting her on your team, Sugino."

"Yeah," Sugino sighs. "You know with all that was happening, we didn't get to talk much."

"Ehhhh?"

"Well, the question is, who voted for who?" Mimura asks, folding his arms.

"Ahh! SO MANY GIRLS? HOW CAN I ONLY PICK ONE?" Okajima laments in the background.

"Except for you, Okajima," Mimura sighs.

"It's sort of private, you know?" Sugaya points out.

"Well, yeah," Sugino laughs. "It's kinda...private."

"Who did'cha vote for, Isogai?" Mimura asks, grinning.

"M-Me?" For the first time since the beginning of the year, Isogai falters, losing his composure. "Uh..."

"What about you, Mimura?" Maehara turns the question back, smirking.

"Kayano," Mimura states simply. "You?"

"Not telling~!" Maehara wriggles his fingers at Mimura.

"Damn, that really pisses me off! Especially when I think of how popular guys like you are..."

The door to the room slides open. "Hmmm? It sounds like you guys are having fun~" Karma enters, sipping from a strawberry milk packet.

"Ah, Karma! Just in time!" Maehara calls.

"Is there a girl you like?" Mimura asks.

Karma blinks in surprise, thinking a moment. "In terms of non-relationship, Okuda-chan's a pretty good friend. And she's pretty, too."

"Oh?" Maehara exchanges looks with Isogai. "Why in terms of non-relationship?"

"I think Maehara already knows _why_ it's in terms of friendship, and it's obviously 'cause she can make sketchy drugs like chloroform and stuff," Devil horns seem to grow from Karma's head. "And do you know what I could do with those~?"

"Yeah, yeah," Mimura dismisses. "Who do you _like_ like?"

"Like like?" Karma binks a few times in confusion.

"Like romantically, obviously!" Okajima yells, flinging his arms out. "What did you say the last time, 'shorter girls with light hair' and I think you said you wanted someone cute."

"Sounds like Kayano," Mimura admits.

"Kayano or Nagisa," Sugaya agrees.

Karma takes the sheet of paper from Isogai, looking it over. "In terms of a girl I like romantically, then Nagisa-chan for sure."

The room goes silent.

"Uh...you say _Nagisa_?" Sugaya asks tentatively. "Why?"

"Duh. Since I'm dating her, she's obviously the top on my list for liking in romatic terms," Karma returns the paper to Isogai, walking further into the room before he plunks down.

"Yeah, since he's dating her," Maehara echoes, grinning.

"Makes sense. The person you're dating _would_ be on the top of that list," Mimura nods firmly, crossing his arms.

A beat passes.

Karma sips from the straw of his drink.

"EHHHH?!" Everyone in the room, except Sugino, Maehara and, for some reason, Mimura exclaim. Looks like Mimura had also figured out that the two were going out.

"Oh?" Karma blinks innocently. "You didn't know?"

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"T-This is what the emergency meeting is about...?" Nagisa asks, her eye twitching.

As soon as Nagisa had slid open the door to the girls' room, several arms had grabbed her at once, dragging her into the room, where Nakamura announced that night's topic -

"Yes, we're going to talk about..." Nakamura pauses, grinning manically. "BOYS!"

"Uh..." Nagisa closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. When she had said 'you don't have to hide the fact that we're dating anymore' she hadn't meant to send a sign to fate or something saying 'OH LET'S MAKE THE GIRLS IN THE E CLASS SUDDENLY WANT TO TALK ABOUT BOYS! THEN SHIOTA NAGISA CAN TELL THEM EVERYTHING' "I'll pass-"

"NO!" Every girl screams.

Nagisa flinches. "OK, OK..."

"So boys we like!" Nakamura stands, marching in front of the group of girls.

Nagisa groans.

"It'll be fun! I promise," Nakamura says solemnly, before adopting her maniacal grin again. "Anyone have a particular boy they want to talk about?"

"Oh! Me!" Kurahashi's hand shoots in the air. "Karasuma-sensei!"

"Yeah, yeah, we _all_ like Karasuma-sensei," Nakamura dismisses. "I mean a boy. Like in our class."

"Maehara isn't half-bad," Manami volunteers.

"Yeah, but he's a bit of a player..." Okano sighs.

"Isogai-kun is rather good looking," Kaede nods.

"Yes, and he's quite mature and kind too," Kataoka agrees.

"That puts him at the head of class," Kurahashi chirps.

"Karma-kun will be up there too, based on good looks alone, right, Megu?" Yada speaks up, elbowing Kataoka, who sits next to her. "If only he were better behaved..."

Squirming, Nagisa looks away.

"He's not that bad, though," Manami blinks, smiling brightly.

"True, he's mostly just really quiet," Kaede taps her chin.

"No, no," Kurahashi shakes her head emphatically. "No! He was super mean to me!"

"Well, he's stole my books," Nakamura waves her hand. "But he's _Karma_."

"How mean," Kurahashi folds her arms.

"There's only one person who would know, you know," Hara says wisely, cutting her eyes over to Nagisa, who lets out a squeak. Before everyone can follow Hara's line of sight, Nagisa dives behind Yukiko, gripping the taller girl's shoulders as she half-hides behind her. Yukiko jumps slightly, but pats Nagisa's hand, which is resting on her shoulder, sympathetically. _Please don't spot me, please don't_...Taking in a soft breath, Nagisa steadies her breathing, trying to regain control of her emotions.

"Yeah! Nagisa!" Nakamura turns to where Nagisa had been sitting moments before, her voice turning confused as she takes in the empty spot. "Nagisa?"

"Where'd she go?" Yada asks.

"Shall I curse her out?" Hazama volunteers.

"Go ahead," Hara shrugs.

"Oh! I've always wanted to see Hazama cursing someone!" Kaede chirps, and Nagisa shivers behind Yukiko.

"You all _really_ can't see her?" Hayami asks.

"She's behind Kanzaki," Okano all but spits Yukiko's name. Nagisa groans, slowly coming out from behind her friend.

"I don't want to talk about Karma, though," Nagisa mumbles, carefully aligning all her fingers before interlacing them together and leaving her hands in her lap.

"Why not?" Yada asks.

"Um...no reason," Nagisa looks away, her fingers tightening on themselves.

When she faces in front of her again, Yada is sitting directly in front of her, eyes wide and understanding. "You can talk to me, Nagisa," Yada says convincingly.

"Uh...Karma's very nice at times, he's just strange about showing it," Nagisa shrugs. "So don't say he's mean."

"You've known Karma very long, right?" Yada coaxes.

"Yes, I have. We've known each other since we were ten."

"That's not as long as I thought it would be," Hara comments, patting Nagisa's shoulder.

"Well, it was pretty amazing we became friends in the first place," Nagisa admits. "I was too shy to talk to anyone, even if they talked to and Karma was one of the most popular guys. So...I guess I was pretty over the moon when we became friends, hehe."

"How so?" Hara asks gently.

"He talked to me a lot, even when I was awkward," Nagisa plays with her fingers.

"I used to make him lunch, I guess. Since Karma didn't used to bring a bento to school," Nagisa feels more relaxed and she smiles. Hara and Yada are really nice.

"That's so sweet!" Yada exclaims, grabbing Nagisa's hands. "And look at how close you two are now."

"That's only due to the fact that Karma was very persistent in being friends with me, but also very kind," Nagisa admits, feeling confused. Even now, she doesn't know why Karma had tried so hard to befriend her. "He didn't like other people's cooking much, but he would eat mine when I made it for him, even if it was burnt. He _would_ make a snarky comment, but who can blame him? When I couldn't understand my homework, he was there to explain it for me. When I was sick, he brought me homework. For some reason, he used to give me a lot of flowers in March. I never found out why."

"March when?" Hara asks.

"Thirteenth, I think," Nagisa's head feels a little light, but it's not a bad feeling.

"Aww, sounds like Karma had a crush on you," Kurahashi chimes in.

"I didn't believe it," Nagisa smiles, reaching up to play with her hair tie.

"But you're his ideal woman, you know?" Nakamura bursts out with.

"Nakamura~" Yada slowly turns to Nakamura, a smile that has bloodlust hidden beneath it. "I'm taking my turn at this~"

"Eep! Sorry!" Nakamura squeals, jumping behind Fuwa.

"As I was saying," Yada turns back to Nagisa, kind smile back in place. "Nagisa and Karma have been together a long time, huh?"

"Huh?" Nagisa's eyes widen.

"Now, Nagisa, did you really think we didn't notice?" Hara shakes her head slowly.

"Didn't notice what?" Fuwa asks Hara.

"It was very obvious," Hayami agrees.

"What was very obvious?" Nakamura asks Hayami.

"Indeed," Hazama nods, holding out a piece of paper. "I tried to curse Karma to gain attraction males but it didn't work. After much research, I have discovered that this is as-"

"What do you mean 'indeed'?" Fuwa demands now.

"You did a good job of hiding it, but I sit between Karma and you, Nagisa," Hayami pats Nagisa's shoulder.

"Hiding what?!" Nakamura sounds about ready to tear out her own hair.

"I remember thinking that you looked at me a lot, before I realised you were looking at Karma," Hayami ignores Nakamura.

"WHAT IS GOING ON?" Nakamura and Fuwa shout.

"I admit, I want to know as well," Kataoka agrees, with Okano and Kurahashi nodding behind her.

"You didn't guess, Megu-chan?" Yada blinks in surprise.

"It's Kataoka, Yada. Or just Megu."

"See, Megu-chan," Yada brushes off Kataoka's words. "Nagisa is dating Karma."

"EH?!" Kataoka, Okano, Kurahashi, Nakamura and Fuwa shout in unison.

And Nagisa is mobbed with questions.

So she does what anybody in the same situation would do...

She throws open the door of the closet holding all the futons and scrambles in, her small stature allowing her to clamber over the neatly folded futons and behind.

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As loud screams spread around the inn, Karma stands, finishing off his drink. "That's my cue to save _my girlfriend_ from being massacred. Bye."

"Wait, wait, wait, you want to just _go_?" Okajima stares at Karma.

"Yeah?"

"No! We have to spy on them! Maybe we'll finally find out what girls do during girls nights!"

"Do as you want~" Karma shuts the door behind him.

"Back on the topic of girls," Maehara continues, as though nothing had happened. "Kataoka is pretty cool. But I don't really see her as a girl, you know."

"Yeah," Mimura nods.

"I'd like her to model for me," Sugaya says randomly, causing everyone to stare at him strangely.

"Ohhh, how illicit," Okajima smirks.

"How so?" Sugaya blinks, before his cheeks colour. "Not like _that_!"

"GUYS!" Isogai claps his hands together, silencing the boys. Slowly, he looks among the circle of his classmates. "Remember, this is all to ourselves, OK? We don't want word of it getting out..." Is that a flash of pink Isogai sees? Doing a double take, Isogai's eyes widen when he realises that _OH THAT'S KOROSENSEI_.

His fellow male students follow his line of vision.

"Good evening, Students," Korosensei nods to them before writing something down in a notebook and leaving.

...

"HE TOOK NOTES AND SPLIT! KILL HIM!" Maehara yells, and all the boys sweep in.

"Nabbing this data is exactly what my speed is for, nurufufufufufu..."

 _Korosensei weak point #12: He loves gossip._

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"Would you brats shut up?" The door slides open with a loud crash and the girls of 3E all jump. All the girls look up guiltily. They probably look ridiculous. For example, Nagisa is half-dangling out of the closet, futon mattresses and blankets scatter higgledy-piggledy on the floor, Nakamura and Fuwa gripping her arm, from where they were clearly halfway through pulling her out. Hayami is backed into the corner of the room, hands held out to fend of anyone (it doesn't work) as Kurahashi glomps her with hugs. Kaede is also glomping Yukiko not far away, tickling her in an effort to make her 'reveal who it is that she likes' while Manami questions Yukiko and Kayano on their 'Ideal type of boy'. Okano has stopped with her mouth half-open, clearly in the middle of peppering a blushing Yada with questions, with Hara's hands set on Yada's shoulders to keep her from running away. Hazama has a chalk circle drawn on the ground, candles placed at the north, south, east and west of it, and she's chanting in an ominous tone. Kataoka is trying to get everyone back to order (and stop Hazama from cursing everyone) and overall, the room is just a giant explosion of screams and shrieks, until the door opened. Standing at the door, holding a six pack of beer, Bitch-sensei has her arms crossed. "It's technically bed time."

"Technically?" Kaede asks, from where she, Yukiko and Manami are.

"Well, it's not like you aren't going to stay up later _talking_ or anything," Bitch-sensei rolls her eyes, starting out the room. "Just keep it down alright?" As she starts to close the door, Kurahashi suddenly bounces from the corner to Bitch-sensei, grabbing her arm.

"Why do _you_ get to drink?" Kurahashi protests. "That's so unfair!"

"Because I'm an adult," Bitch-sensei sighs. "Obviously."

"Oh! I know! Bitch-sensei, tell us some of your grown up stories!" Kurahashi chirps.

"Huh?"

"You've seduced all kinds of men, right? We want to know!" Yada exclaims.

So Bitch-sensei ends up coming in, lounging on a cushion with food surrounding as she listens to the girls buzz around her, watching them form a circle.

"Oh, that's right she never said..." Okano says quietly. Nagisa faces the short haired girl, tilting her head in confusion. Who never said what? Okano raises her voice. "Bitch-sensei, how old are you?"

"Hmm? Oh, I'm twenty."

"HAH?! Bitch-sensei, you're only twenty?!" Nakamura yells.

"With your experience, I thought you were older," Kataoka looks surprised.

"Yeah, and you've got the whole black-widow thing going down," Okano nods.

"Yes, yes, the sex appeal of a black widow that only living large can - HEY WHO CALLED ME A BLACK WIDOW?!" Bitch-sensei screams.

"Late reaction," Kaede facepalms.

"Listen here! Women have a short shelf life. Unlike me," Bitch-sensei's face goes serious, her playful blue eyes mellowing out to green. "You were lucky enough to be born into a country free from danger. Be grateful and polish your femininity with all your might."

"Wow...Bitch-sensei said something sensible for once..." Okano stares at Bitch-sensei is disbelief.

"She ought to stay in her lane," Nakamura comments.

"Stop toying with me, you brats!" Bitch-sensei points an accusatory finger at the two girls, before she sucks in a breath, calming herself. "Anyway, you want someone with experience, ask Nagisa. She's the only one out of your girls who's dating someone. Looks pretty steady, too."

Nagisa smiles.

"But junior high relationships never last, anyway," Nakamura sighs, propping her arms up behind her head.

"That's peoples mentality," Bitch-sensei points at Kataoka. "Answer! Why are some people scared of the dark?"

"Uh..."

"Because they think there's something dangerous in it," Yada volunteers, raising her hand.

"If you think that something is there, even if it isn't, you will convince yourself of that. The thing blondie just said, that's what people belive, so they aren't serious about their junior high relationships. Trust me, it _can_ last," Bitch-sensei picks up a takoyaki box, stabbing one of the octopus calls. "And I'm willing to bet that this one will."

"How much are you betting?" Fuwa asks, eyes shining.

"Forty thousand yen," Bitch-sensei produces money from nowhere, showing off the bills.

"Eh?!" Murmurs spread among the class.

"Nagisa go outside while we're betting so no one offends you," Nakamura points at the door.

"OK..." Standing, Nagisa moves out of the room, about to slide open the door when it opens on it's own. Blinking in surprise, Nagisa lifts her head and locks eyes with golden ones. "K-K-!" Karma covers her mouth with his hand, pulling her into the corridor. He shuts the door, then wraps his arms around her, nuzzling into her hair. "K-Karma...you could have just asked nicely," Nagisa mumbles, slowly bringing her arms around him.

He laughs into her hair. "I need something to muffle my laughter, and your hair smells nice and is fluffy so I figured-"

"Don't be an idiot," Nagisa swats at Karma.

"Fine. I really wanted to set a stink bomb in the-"

"No."

"Well, I'm going to do it, but I want you to come along to supervise."

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"Betting three thousand that it'll work out!" Yada shouts.

"Next!" Bitch-sensei points at Nakamura.

"Five thousand that it won't," The blonde girl drops a handful of coins into the pile. "You noting this, Kataoka?"

"NEXT!"

"Yup," the gray haired girl places a few coins onto the pile. "A thousand that it will."

"Ok, next," Bitch-sensei points at the figure next to Kataoka...wait.

"OI YOU!" Pointing at the pink Korosensei, who's sitting calmly next to Kataoka, Bitch-sensei screeches. "You think you can just waltz into girl bets, all casual like that?"

"Why not? I'm as interested to what girls do at sleepovers as the next octopus. It's one of the unsolved mysteries of the world," Korosensei blushes as much as he can as an octopus.

"Because it's a secret!" Kurahashi points out.

"But I want to know," Korosensei whines.

"That's easy for you to say, Korosensei! You never tell us anything about your private life!" Okano exclaims, pointing accusatorily at Korosensei.

"Yeah! Fair's fair!" Fuwa shouts, jabbing her finger at Korosensei.

"Nyuya!" Korosensei yelps.

"Don't you have any romantic stories of your own?" Nakamura aims her pointer finger at Korosensei.

"You like boobs, right?" Kaede points at him as well. "You _must_ have at least had a crush on someone."

Korosensei goes silent, what with all the girls pointing at him and all. Then he disappears in a poof of smoke.

"THAT'S IT! CATCH HIM, MAKE HIM TALK, _THEN_ KILL HIM!" Irina instructs, the girls all sweeping out of the classroom.

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Korosensei stops at the joint between corridors to catch his breath, keeping an eye on the fast approaching girls when-

"THERE HE IS! GET HIM!" THe boys are coming in from the other wing, something Korosensei hadn't predicted.

"Nyuya! A pincer attack!" Korosensei begins to panic, desperately dodging knives in the narrow corridors, just before a door opens slightly to the left of him. Immediately, Korosensei launches through it.

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"Oh!" Nagisa lets out a shriek as she's knocked over by something.

"Whoa," Karma grabs her waist to stop her from falling, ending up swinging her into his arms. In the joint where the corridors are conjoined, their classmates are splayed all around. "Was that Korosensei?"

"Looks like it..." Nagisa relaxes, staying in Karma's embrace for a bit.

"Eh? I have a good plan to kill him," Karma laughs evilly.

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Later that night, Nagisa stares out at the cresent moon. It seems to be bigger, now.

"Na-gi-sa!" Two thin arms wrap themselves around her.

"Hi, Kaede," Nagisa greets.

"Me too!" Manami protests.

"And I," Yukiko agrees.

"This was a fun school trip, huh?" Kaede says cheerfully. "What, with getting to see the different sides of everyone."

"And getting kidnapped," Yukiko reminds the other three.

"Yeah...are you three alright?" Manami asks,, her eyes worried.

"Yep! Good as gold, or even better!" Kaede brags.

"But Nagisa looks contemplative," Yukiko lightly pokes her friend. "What's in your mind.

"Just..." Nagisa hesitates. "It feels like our class trip is drawing to an end."

"Hmm?"

"But our way of life is only just starting," Nagisa continues. "And we don't know if the world will survive the year or not, but either way, this class will end next March. Whether it's learning more about everyone, or killing Korosensei...I want to make sure nothing is left undone."

"Ah...I get it," Kaede nods. "For now...well, I'd like another school trip too.

 _And so the curtain falls on their class trip._

 _Tomorrow will be another day, their assassination classroom._

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 **Hahaha...late again lol. Sorry! But I don't think it was that bad XD Not the best either. Hoped you liked it though!**

 **Review replies~~~~**

 _ **Amaya Kuruta:** Right? I imagined the voice actor of Karma saying it with like a Japanese accent and I was like :O those two are just cute. The dere type are simple: Tsundere - harsh on the outside and kind on the inside! Kuudere - Cool and calm on the outside, but becomes sweeter with time! Dandere - quiet and a little harsh because their shy, but after they open up, they become sweet! Deredere - Sweet through and through! Himedere - acts like a princess! :3 Karma doesn't seem like someone good with worry, so...yeah That's why he's mostly like that. And I couldn't bring myself to write that Karma likes Okuda. I tried. I couldn't. So here. I hoped you liked it anyway. (Thank you for the hugs ^^ have another one back *hug*)_

 ** _Konan248:_** _Yeah...sorry! I hope I made up for the last chapter with this one! Haha, that_ does _make me happier, yeah!_

 ** _DeceivingAura:_** _:O I'm not going to judge, but hinny you gotta show your real feelings, or you'll go kapow! Curiosity makes me do crazy things, or crazy and stupid things. Usually the latter. (Once I wondered if potent ethanol would hurt your nose so I just took a deep lungful of it AND COULDN'T BREATHE AT ALL AND I WAS LIKE COUGHING OUT OF MY MOUTH BECAUSE THE SMELL WAS SO STRONG) Anyway, XD I love it when anime characters say it too! The accent is really cool! YAy! You liked the chapter ^^ That's always good to hear. As for the kamojis...I had them open, anyway, so I decided LOL WHY NOT. My family thinks I'm crazy, but they're on about the equal level as I am, so yea. I'm somewhat one of the saner ones due to that ^^ (AND YES! I AM EVIL! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA)_

 ** _Xenoncanaan:_** _I really_ do _keep embarrassing Nagisa...hmmm...I hoped you liked Karma being semi-embarrassed._

 ** _Roseheart37819:_** _Rio and Fuwa were supposed to have a boss, and I was supposed to mention that in the last chapter. I guess I didn't tho...the mastermind is actually...(drumroll please...)..._ _YADA TOUKA! Did you expect that?_

 ** _DJ_** _ **Candy** : Yep, Sugino _is _Nagisa's bestie/big bro ^^ That was my friend's face when she discovered best friends was dating one of her other friends. Hilarious._

 ** _Yuzuhara-san:_** _Hoped you liked it!_

 ** _Marshmallow:_** _O.o Yes, it will. Muahahahahahaha! OH MY GOODNESS :) I'm happy and worried at the same time. Are you getting enough sleep? But thank you so much XD_

 _I liked the exam episodes, but didn't know how to personify the mind reading and what not, so I skipped it :P Thank you tho ^^ I had a weird craving for french toast when I started writing the chapter, hence the strange beginning._

 _Thank youuuuu! The nickname came out without intention, but it seemed to suit so I just left it there :) Yayyyy! I fulfilled the four criterias! Boo yeah! *Dances around the room* yay, yay yay...oh I'm so sorry that this is late again (and yeah, I have no excuses)_

 ** _Guest:_** _'You're their chaperone. Look the part' - Karasuma 2016_

 _ **Ginger Hale:** Giiiirrrllll XD you forgot your password :O Oh my word XD The manga epilogue in this story...(Should I throw in a wedding? SO tempting...but that's so far away, I'll decide when I come to it) Yea! Nagisa attempts to be subtle and Karma's just like 'OH LOOK I'M GOING TO KISS YOU IN THE CLASSROOM' and Nagisa's just like O/O XD_

 ** _HappyGuy:_** _Thank you! XD I'll try to carry on being consistent!_

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ

 _Extraaaaassss_

 _(Super short):_

 _How Korosensei's weak point #11 was discovered._

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ

"Korosensei, eat hot pot with us!" Kurahashi yells, waving her chopsticks at the giant octopus as he crosses the room.

"Nyuya! Can I?"

"Go ahead," The class exchange looks. They slipped in anti-sensei bullets into the bowl that they're serving him with.

"Thank you very much," Korosensei accepts the bowl Kataoka presents to him.

As the rest of the class begins to eat, Korosensei lifts his spoon to his mouth. Everyone watches, even as they chat and Korosensei makes his move.

He blows on it.

 _Puff_

 _Puff_

 _Puff_

 _Puff_

 _Puff_

 _Puff_

 _Puff_

"Just eat it already!" Okajima, Maehara and Mimura yell.

 _Korosensei weak point #11: His mouth can't take the heat_

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 _Extras #2:_

 _How Class E got their revenge on Korosensei:_

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ

The man at the photocopying store stares at the three junior high students in front of him. "You want me to print all of these?" He turns the screen to show them the strange snapshots on his computer. All of a strange octopus-looking character.

"Yes?" One of the students, a boy with a butch cut, shrugs.

"If you would, please," The second bows, a very pretty girl with long dark hair, smiling charmingly. "We need it for a school project.

The third student, a boy with bright eyes and greyish hair, who's holding a _basaeball_ for some reason, bows low as well. "We'll be definately paying the full price!"

"I see," The man sighs, linking the computer to the printer.

Well, it's not the _weirdest_ request he has ever gotten, so...

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ

"Got the pictures!" Okajima shouts as he dashes into the classroom, holding up a folder that is practically bursting at the seams.

"Let's go then!" The class springs into action, and Nagisa sit and watches, wondering what their doing. Soon, the classroom is filled with pictures of Korosensei stuck all over the walls until not even a square centimeter of the wall can be seen. Some are normal picture, while others depict...well, strange things.

"What are they doing?" Karma tilts her head, watching as their classmates stack up tables to be able to reach the ceiling. He's leaning on Nagisa's table.

"Who knows," Nagisa shrugs.

"Ohhhhh, revenge," Karma's eyes suddenly clear up and he grins. "Got a prank to play, Nagisa, so we'll talk later," Giving her a quick peck on the lips, Karma springs away, fetching something from his bag before walking around the classroom, sometimes stopping and leaning over something.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ

 _to be continued in the next chapter ~~~~_


	9. Chapter 9

**ALRIGHT I AM DOING THIS. I SWORE TO MYSELF THAT I'LL HAVE IT UP ON TIME, EVEN IF I HAVE TO GIVE UP CHOCOLATE AND SLEEP, SO I AM PUTTING ON MY WORKING GLOVES AND ALRIGHT! LET'S DO THIS:**

 **On a side note...106 followers? OMG OMG OMG XD I'm going to construct a commemorative chapter in my free time XD**

 **WARNING: Starts out pu-re-tty bad.**

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 _No one can do it like an AI!_

 ** _OR_**

 _Transfer student time!_

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Karasuma despises when he has to meet with the government. It is made worse tenfold by the fact that all the leaders of each country are present, scowling down on him from computer screens.

"Despite the fact that a school trip occurred, there has been no progress in assassinating him," One of the world leaders in a cold voice, a turban around his head. "Is this matter truly going to work out, Karasuma-san?"

Karasuma grits his teeth. They're obviously trying to goad him, but it will not work. "This is all due to my own incompetence, I will put forth even greater effort." Behind him, his underlings hang their heads.

"It is already the end of May," A dark skinned leader reminds the room, unnecessarily so. "The time limit is growing closer with each passing moment."

"Really, when push comes to shove, we can just use a nuclear missile on the entire school," Another leader suggests, grinning widely as he imagines the devastating scene.

"You should give up on that idea," The leader on the screen next to him scholds. "The risk is much too high. He might move faster than the explosion to escape it. There was that time we ambushed thim with a missile attack over the Pacific Ocean. He put the pieces back together and came to return it the next day, with a ribbon wrapped around the neck.

"How the...Isn't there anyway to deal with him?!"

Karasuma feels like scolding the ignorant person who said that. What did he _think_ they are trying to do?

"Rest assured. Several of our allied countries have fooled their technologies and are conducting research. As for their findings, they have reaches an agreement with Japan's Ministry of Defence some time ago. Two special assassins with be sent to that class. They possess abilities which surpass the limits of human intellect through the power of science."

This is the first Karasuma has heard of this.

"When you return to the classroom, you'll certainly be surprised, Karasuma-san. One of them still needs to be adjusted, but the other one...their necessary preparations have already been completely while you were on your trip."

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ

"That was one fun class trip," Nagisa smiles happily, bouncing up and down as she walks.

"Yeah...but now it's all back to normal," Sugino groans, looking defeated.

"You call this normal?" Nagisa points out.

"Nagisa!" A pair of arms throw themselves around her and Nagisa is reminded of the last night of the Kyoto trip, only this time, it's not Kaede.

"Yukiko," Nagisa smiles at the taller girl, who immediately releases her. "Why'd you do that?"

"K-K-Kanzaki!" Sugino exclaims, his cheeks turning pink. "H-Hi!"

"Sugino, good morning," Yukiko beams. "Kaede told me to hug Sugino, but I didn't think he would like it-"

"YUKIKO YOU CHEATED! HUG SUGINO!" A voice screams from somewhere behind the three students. Turning, they see Kaede hopping up and down angrily.

"I'm sorry, Sugino," Yukiko smiles and gives Sugino a quick hug.

 _Click_

Nagisa blinks and looks to her left, seeing a familar redhead, holding a phone that's pointed at Yukiko and Sugino.

"Good morning, Karma," She greets, kissing him on the cheek.

"Hey, _shortucaku_ (shortcake)," Karma shows her the picture on his phone, Sugino's cheeks dusted a shade of red that rivals Karma's hair, Yukiko's face pressed into his shoulder. "Found my next project-"

"Karma, don't you dare!" Nagisa gasps.

"I'll send it to you," Karma grins.

"Yo!" Isogai comes running up behind them.

"Morning, Isogai," Karma gives the Ikemen a little salute.

"Good morning," Nagisa smiles.

"Did you guys see that group email Karasuma-sensei sent us?" Isogai asks.

"Oh, yes," Nagisa nods.

"It was about some transfer student, right?" Sugino rejoins his classmates, cheeks still red.

 _A transfer student will be joining your class. Their looks may surprise you but try not to make a big deal of it._

 _Karasuma_

That is what the email reads.

"Sounds like another pro killer to me," Sugino groans.

"So now they're bringing in student assassins?" Nagisa blinks.

"With the added bonus that we are planning an assassination for tomorrow as well, I wonder how this will go," Karma smirks.

"And since they're transfer _students,_ they'll be our age, instead of Bitch-sensei's..." Isogai observes. Nagisa tilts her head. Do the boys know that Bitch-sensei is twenty? Never mind. It's probably better that they don't know.

"I wonder how she will look," Yukiko suddenly comments.

"ON THAT NOTE!" Okajima cuts into their conversation, knocking away Isogai's phone as he jabs a finger into Isogai's chest.

"Uwah!" Nagisa jumps back, her shoulder knocking into Karma.

"Where'd you come from, Okajima?" Sugino yelps.

"I was curious too, so I asked Karasuma-sensei if he had a photo," Okajima fishes for his phone. "And here's what he sent back." Holding up his phone, Okajima shows off the picture of a girl. The girl's skin is pale, and her eyes are large and red. A soft smile rests on her face, her purple hair held back by a strange headband, cut in a curious manner (long in front and extremely short at the back). Overall, the girl is quite pretty.

"Oh! it's a girl!" Isogai notes, with some amusement in his tone

"You made it into your wallpaper, eh?" Karma laughs. "Nice. Catch a cute girl with pervert methods."

"She's really cute," Yukiko praises, smiling. "I'm sure she will be very popular!"

"Super cute!" Okajima drools, clasping his hands to his head. "Man, I really hope we hit it off! I'm so nervous..." He begins to do a strange dance, like he's praying to everything around him. Eye twitching, Nagisa looks away.

"Nagisa, let's head to class," Yukiko tugs on the blue haired girl's arm. More than happy to leave the perverted boy behind, Nagisa walks with Yukiko, waving to Karma.

As she walks, thoughts swarm her mind. _What's the new student like? What's her assassination style?_

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ

"I wonder if she's already here," Yukiko's hands fly to her hair, tucking locks of it behind her ears. "Do I look OK, Nagisa?"

"Very nice," Nagisa offers, sliding open the classroom door. Doing a quick glance around, she can't see any new students, just Kataoka and Kurahashi...wait, what is that black rectangular box at the corner of the classroom? It looks to have a TV screen at the front of it.

"What's this?" Kataoka asks, standing in front of the box. Yukiko and Nagisa move over, curious.

Suddenly, the screen flickers on.

"Good morning," A girl the duplicate of the one in Okajima's picture appears, except without a smile on her face. Her mouth flaps open As she speaks, her voice sounding flat and mechanical. "I will be joining your class today. My designation is: Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery-san _(Jiritsu shikou kotei houdai-san),_ It is a pleasure to meet you." The screen flickers off.

 _Didn't see that one coming..._ Nagisa gapes at the screen.

"What's going on in here, then?" Karma asks, entering with Isogai, Sugino and Okajima.

The screen flickers on again, the AI repeating it's words.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ

"As I'm sure you all know, this is your new classmate, Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery-san, from Norway," Karasuma's normally composed voice has a vexed edge to it.

"It is a pleasure to meet you all," The screen of Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery flickers on, before switching off again.

All the students keep their heads down, all pitying poor Karasuma.

Well, the students keep quiet. Bitch-sensei has a smirk on her face while Korosensei is snickering into his tentacles.

"Don't laugh!" Karasuma snaps. "You're no better than she is!"

"Nya!"

"Just so you know, she's registered here as a student," Karasuma faces the class again. "She'll be sitting there aiming her guns at you, but under no circumstances are you permitted to fight back. You're not permitted to harm any one of the students. That was the agreement, yes?"

"Oh, I see," Korosensei smirks. "So you're exploiting a loophole in my teaching agreement to call a machine my student. Very well. Welcome to the E Class, Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery-san."

"Thank you, Korosensei," The AI replies.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ

The first period is Japanese. Nagisa glances at Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery occasionally during the lesson. Although they called her an artillery, Nagisa can't see a single gun on the AI. How confusing...

"How's it going to attack?" Kaede leans across the aisle, hand cupped around her mouth as she whispers.

"Hmm?" Nagisa starts.

"They called it a fixed artillery, but where are it's guns?" Kaede asks.

"Hmm..." Nagisa shrugs, before she realises that the box holding Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery is unnecessarily big. "Maybe-"

 _BANG_

 _BANG_

Suddenly, the sound of explosions garners the attention of the class. Turning, Nagisa's eyes widen as she notices Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery producing guns from inside it.

"Knew it," Nagisa mumbles under her breath.

"Whoa!" Sugino gapes.

Then Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery releases fire. All the bullets fly over the students heads, but Nagisa still ducks down either way. The chances of anti-sensei bullets hitting her are too high for her liking.

"Four shotguns, two machine guns," Korosensei narrates, dodging the bullets. "That's a veritable cascade of bullets, but that's just what I've come to expect from my students!" He had? Nagisa's amazed at the faith Korosensei has in them. "And discharging firearms during class is strictly prohibited for safety reasons!" Nagisa thinks she sees Korosensei's tentacle moving, before she realises that _all of him is moving_.

"I will be careful," Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery promises in her flat voice. "Preparing to attack." Strings of green code run across the screen of the machine.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ

"Now we'll see what she's made off," Standing outside the classroom, Karasuma and Irina watch with neutal expressions.

"Huh?"

"She has the ability to evolve, you see."

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ

"Recalculating trajectory. Correcting angle," Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery deadpans. "Entering auto-evolution phase, 5/28/02."

"Tsk tsk tsk," Korosensei waggles a piece of chalk at Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery, green stripes across his face. "Will you ever learn?"

The barrage of bullets begins again.

In five seconds it's over, but it's different this time...

Korosensei's fingers are severed off, the chalk gripped in them falling from his grasp.

The whole class is stunned into silence.

"A blind spot," Korosensei whispers. "A hidden bullet, the second bullet flying at the same trajectory as the one I blocked, hiding it from my sight."

"Left fingertip destroyed," Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery delivers her words in a monotone, not sounding victorious at all. Nagisa closes her eyes. The AI is the second student in their class to injure Korosensei. "The newly added security gun has proved effective."

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ

"What?!" Irina gapes at the scene in front of her own two eyes.

"She improves her weapons and program every time she learns her target's defence mannerisms," Karasuma's voice has no feeling to it, the words sounding practised. "Gradually cornering her foe."

"Unbelievable..."

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"Probability of killing you with the next attack," Green numbers flash on the screen of Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artilery. "Less than 0.001%. Probability of killing you in the attack after that, less than 0.003%. Probability of killing you before graduation...greater than 90%."

Nagisa's eyes widen. That's a really big number.

"Now than, Korosensei. Resuming attack phase," Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery releases another barrage of attacks. "Near misses: two. Confirmed hit. To calculate projected estimates...now adding four main guns, and resuming attack."

Nagisa ducks down again, swallowing. She hadn't expected this, or, rather, she hadn't seen Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery as a capable assassin, and look at her now.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ

"An auto-evolving fixed artillery," Irina murmurs. "Imagine that."

"She's only shooting BB pellets right now, but that's some cutting-edge military tech right there," Karasuma says with some semblance of confidence. Something that is so thin, Irina wonders why he bothers. "Surely this will kill him."

 _Well, he clearly doesn't believe it will,_ Irina smiles to herself. _Might as well give him some assurance._

"You think it'll be _that_ easy?" Irina scoffs, smirking. "If it were that cut-and-dry, I wouldn't be teaching here," Tossing her hair over her shoulder, she heads for the staff room.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ

 _Second_ _period..._

The only sound in the classroom is guns firing, and anti-sensei bullets hitting the blackboard and rolling across the ground.

 _Third period..._

See above.

 _Fourth_ _period_

See above again.

 _Fifth period_

See above again.

Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery's attacks continued all day long.

By the time lunch rolls around, there are enough anti-sensei bullets on the ground to form a small ball pit.

" _We_ have to clean this up?" Maehara groans, kicking aside some bullets.

"You wouldn't happen to come with a vacuum, eh? Fixed Atillery-san?" Muramatsu asks, patting the side of the machine. When he recieves no reply, he scowls. "Tsk, the cold shoulder, huh?"

"Give it up," Yoshida crosses his arms. "What's the point in teasing a machine?"

Nagisa picks up a bullet, rolling it between her fingers.

Same bullet. Similar weapons. There is something someone is trying to do by putting Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery in here.

"Sooo, have you worked it out?" Nagisa starts slightly, turning to see Karma lounging in his seat, watching her.

"No," She admits. Karma's much smarter than she is.

"Think. That thing's from Norway, super far away, but they made a point to fly that thing to Japan and put it in this classroom," Karma's eyes are serious, seemingly burning a hole into hers. "Think. Why would they fly a machine from so far away to an assassination classroom?"

Nagisa shrugs. She really can't connect the dots.

"I'll give you a hint: War."

 _War. War. War...war...weapons? A Fixed Artillery that can draw conclusions faster than humans...an artillery that can adapt swifter than humans, an artillery that can make it's own weapons, from what we saw...why, this could change warfare...!_

Her eyes widen.

"Yeah, that's my reaction," Karma smirks.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ

"What do you think's gonna happen?" Karma props himself onto the road blockers, arms extended for balance. He and Nagisa are on their last leg home, after the train ride through Tokyo.

"Honestly?" Nagisa asks, reaching up and holding one of Karma's hands, praying the redhead won't fall.

"Duh," Karma laces their fingers together, now relying on Nagisa for balance.

"She's going to become something like a human...or the like."

Karma bursts into laughter so explosive, he nearly falls off the road blocker onto the road.

"Karma!"

"I'm fine, I'm fine, just... _god_ you're so _innocent_."

Nagisa pouts. "Is it a bad thing?"

"Weeeeeeellllllll..."

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ

 _The next morning..._

"Eight hours, twenty nine minutes and thirty five seconds ante meridiem (a.m.). All systems go," Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery begins the next morning. Feeling guilty for no reason in particular, Nagisa rests her head on the table, covering it with her arms. "Power-system voltage: Normal. Operating system: Normal. Recording disk: Normal. Various devices: Normal. No unnecessary elements found. Program: Start. Verifying tasks. Today's plans: Attack per 215 before sixth period, continue analyzing target's evasion patterns..." There's a mechanical sound and then Nagisa hearsr Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery show some form of emotion for the first time. "Uh," The AI sounds a little startled. "Korosensei. I cannot deploy my guns like this. Please remove my restraints."

Nagisa lifts her head, turning to look at the AI, which has tape wrapped around it, over the guns and covering one of her eyes.

"Well, I don't know..." Korosensei rubs the back of his bulbous head.

"Isn't this your doing?" Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery asks. "It is clearly harming me, which is a violation of your agreement."

"Think again," A roll of tape hits Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery, thrown by Terasaka. "It was me. Learn some common sense before you start firin' away, you grimy box of bolts."

"Machines don't know what common sense is!" Sugaya shrugs.

"We'll release you when class is over," Hara tells Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery.

"That's how it is," Sugino explains. "If we keep getting repeats of yesterday, we'll never learn anything."

Karma's golden orbs meet Nagisa's blue ones, where he smirks. _Turn human, huh?_ He silently asks.

Nagisa looks away.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ

"Still think she's going to be more human?" Karma asks on their way out of the classroom, snagging Nagisa's bag.

The smaller girl only shrugs, her eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed.

"Oh, come on, losing heart so early?" Karma slings an arm around Nagisa, before turning around to holler into the classroom. "Hoi! Greenette, Kanzaki, Baseball, Poison, I'm stealing Nagisa for today!"

"It's KAYANO!" Kaede screeches.

"Have fun!" Yukiko calls.

"Don't do anything dumb!" Sugino chasticises.

"P-Poison?!" Manami yelps.

"May I ask why you call Manami, Kaede and Sugino by nicknames, but call Yukiko by her name?" Nagisa asks as they leave the building, starting down the mountain.

"Cause she can whoop my butt in a game fight," Karma regards the path with distaste. "Come on, Nagisa. Let's take a more _fun_ route."

"I would _prefer_ to live to _at_ _least_ my seventeenth birthday, Karma."

"Come _on!"_

(Karma's 'fun' route ends up with a river, bees, snakes and boulders, and Nagisa is reminded of the school's assemblies. Somewhere while their crossing the river, they end up making a bet [mostly Karma's idea].

Nagisa bets that Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery has the capacity to be human.

Karma bets that _'it'_ he says, 'is nothing more than a machine, and will likely never be more.')

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ

"Uh...why are there so many bandages on you?" Sugino's brow furrows when he and Kaede pick up Nagisa at the station. Usually, she walks with Karma and meets with the others on the way to the mountain. Nagisa doesn't meet Sugino's eyes, squirming. There are band aids all over her arms and legs, not that anyone can see, since they are hidden by cloth, but there's a very noticeable _chunk_ white gauze on her elbow and another one to the right of her forehead.

"Karma," Nagisa picks at the large bandage on her elbow. The injury under it had _not_ been provided by Karma, but she could guess what he would do when he saw it.

"He didn't hit you or anything, did he?" Kaede asks worriedly.

"No. We went down the mountain and Karma decided to take a more _'_ _interesting_ _'_ path," Nagisa sighs.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ

"Good morning everyone!" A cheerful voice greets the the three students as they enter.

"Uhhhhhh..." Kaede gapes at the box at the back of class. Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery has changed, her machine now bigger, with a screen that covered the entire length of the box. Now, the AI has a full body length screen, where they can see all of her, plus some flower covered area in the background.

"What beautiful weather we're having today," She chirps. Her voice is no longer mechanical, only a little digitised, as though she's speaking through Skype call.

"Oh!" Nagisa lifts her hand to cover her smile. "Good morning, Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery-san," Nagisa moves over to chat with the AI, leaving Sugino and Kaede gaping behind her. "How did this happen?"

"Korosensei has taught me the importance of cooperation," Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery turns her large blue eyes to Nagisa. "In future, I hope to work together with everyone on an assassination! I will also withhold all my attempts on Korosensei's life until you all approve."

"Then, would you like to help out with today's assassination?" Nagisa asks.

"I would be delighted to! I can provide you with anything you need."

"What about soft copies of Korosensei's embarrassing moments?" Karma appears from nowhere, taking his spot next to Nagisa and smirking at the AI.

"I do have access to the city's cameras. Shall I run a scan to look for 'large humans'?" Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery asks.

"Go ahead," Karma glances down at Nagisa, then frowns. "Why'd you have bandages on?"

"No reason," Nagisa averts her eyes.

"Come on, tell me~" Karma places his hands on her shoulder, leaning down so that they're face-to-face. Instead of responding, Nagisa kisses Karma.

It's an effective distraction.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ

"Whoa...she sure got hella cute overnight..." Okajima drools over Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery.

"That _is_ the Fixed Artillery, right?" Mimura asks, unsure.

"Don't be fooled!" Terasaka yells from his corner, his feet propped up his desk. "It's just some programme the octopus loaded up. It might act nice, but a machine's a machine. It's still gonna start attacking out of nowhere, the dumb box o' bolts."

Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery turn her whole machine to face Terasaka, a frown on her face. Behind her, gray clouds begin forming on her screen.

"I understand how you feel, Terasaka-san," she lowers her head, clutching her hands to her chest. "I _was_ like that. Until yesterday. Box of bolts..." Tears fall down her face. "I don't know what to say..." Hiding her face in her hands, Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery bursts into tears, the background in her screen pouring with rain.

"Aww, you made her cry," Kataoka crosses her arms.

"Terasaka made a 2D girl cry," Hara announces.

"Shut up - People'll take that the wrong way!" Terasaka splutters.

"I think it's wonderful," For the first time that year, Takebayashi speaks up. "2D...A woman's not a woman until she loses that third d."

" _Those_ are your first words, Takebayashi?" Isogai yelps.

"Are you _sure?!_ " Kimura shrieks.

"D like dimension?" Okuda asks, tilting her head.

"Well, there are a few girls in our class that are so flat, they can _count_ as 2D," Maehara shrugs. "Like Nagisa, Kayano, Okano, Okuda..."

"Hiroto!" Isogai scolds.

"I'm a B-Cup, a B-cup, I'm telling you!" Kaede exclaims.

"I am _not_ flat!" Okano slaps the table.

"Ooo, she's violent," Okajima whispers to Maehara.

"Shut up, you pervert!" Kaede and Okano yell.

"But don't worry everyone." Wiping away her tears, Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery speaks up, smiling again. "As I have mentioned before, I have learnt all the necessary instructions for working together with others. Now, here is the thumb drive of the pictures you requested, Nagisa-chan." A robot-like arm comes out of the machine's side, a simple thumb drive resting in it.

"O-oh..." Nagisa glances around the class. "Uh, pass it to Isogai-kun."

"Mimura, Okajima, Sugaya, Kanzaki," Isogai calls, accepting the thumb drive. "Could you four go get these printed?"

t*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ

"Got the pictures!" Okajima shouts as he dashes into the classroom, holding up a folder that is practically bursting at the seams. Sugaya, Mimura and Yukiko soon follow.

"Let's go then!" The class springs into action, and Nagisa sit and watches, wondering what their doing. Soon, the classroom is filled with pictures of Korosensei stuck all over the walls until not even a square centimeter of the wall can be seen. Some are normal picture, while others depict...well, strange things. A few of them are repeated.

"What are they doing?" Karma tilts his head, watching as their classmates stack up tables to be able to reach the ceiling. He's leaning on Nagisa's table.

"Who knows," Nagisa shrugs.

"Ohhhhh, revenge," Karma's eyes suddenly clear up and he grins. "Got a prank to play, Nagisa, so we'll talk later," Giving her a quick peck on the lips, Karma springs away, fetching something from his bag before walking around the classroom, sometimes stopping and leaning over something.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ

"Hurry up! Korosensei is coming!" Mimura calls into the classroom.

"Shut the windows!" Kimura instructs.

Nagisa shuts the widows.

"Uwah, it's so stuffy now," Nakamura complains.

"If it helps, I have a built in air filterer, along with a fan!" Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery volunteers, switching the mentioned devices on. Soon, the stuffy room begins to feel just that more tolerable.

"Stick the stuff onto the last window!" Okajima yells.

Nagisa returns to her desk as her classmates swarm to the remaining bare window, sticking pictures onto it.

Mimura slides the classroom door shut. "Hurry! Seats, everyone!" Mimura dives for his seat, and so do everyone else.

"Goodday, everyone," Korosensei slides the classroom door open, his usual smile in place. The smile turns into a worried line when he notices the pictures on the walls. Then Korosensei releases a 'Nyuya!' sound. On the walls, pictures of Korosensei cover the walls. His strange moments, his battle with a strange man with pink hair...everything is on the walls. Since the windows are covered as well, all that can be seen are a few small beams of light, coming in from where no pictures cover.

"Good morning, Korosensei..." As few of the class greets, sounding lifeless. Terasaka, Muramatsu and Yoshida stand guard to the back door and with several students rushing to the front to shut it and form a human blockage.

"Uh...whatever is the matter, students?" Korosensei asks, sweating severely.

Nagisa peeks at Karma over her shoulder. He had yelled out a plan to the class earlier, and one factor of it was _not talking_.

"Isogai-kun? Kataoka-san?" Korosensei whispers. "Kimura-kun? Okuda-san? Maehara-kun? Anybody?"

Fortunately, no one speaks.

"Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery-san?" Korosensei asks, turning to the AI.

Nagisa almost reacts, but keeps her face blank and faces forward.

"Ah! Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery-san! What happened to you?!"

Nagisa resists the urge to look.

A loud slamming sound echoes around the classroom.

"Nyuya! Who shut that drawer?!"

 _Korosensei weak point #2: Loses his composure rather quickly_

Another loud slamming sound.

"Nyah!"

Nagisa watches her table suddenly jerk to the left, falling over with a clatter.

The windows rattle.

"NYA!"

Seriously, _how_ is Karma doing all this?

The lights flicker on, illuminating the dark classroom.

Korosensei lets out a brutal scream, something that burns Nagisa's ears.

The teachers podium falls over.

The class attacks, launching forward as a whole with knives swinging. A few students stand and aim guns at Korosensei, shooting. Nagisa is one of the shooters.

For ten wonderful minutes, the class is filled with the sounds of shooting and the desperate pleading of Korosensei.

Until finally, Korosensei liquefies himself, slithering under the door, with several 3E students after him.

Karma, Nagisa, Hayami, Chiba and Kaede all remain in the classroom, Hayami and Chiba beginning to take down the pictures.

"He left his robes behind..." Karma murmurs, smirking as he moves over to the pile of clothes.

"Karma," Nagisa sighs reproachfully, already guessing what's in Karma's mind.

"What? I just happened to have some itching powder on me..."

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ

"Now, the retina contains long, thin rods, as well as short, fat...what?" Korosensei scratches his back with a ruler. "SUGAYA-KUN!"

"Huh? Me?" Sugaya lifts his head.

"Answer without looking at your book!"

"Yike! Um..." Seeing some movement out of the corner of his eye, Sugaya turns. On screen, Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery is gesturing at something written on her thigh. "C-Cones?"

"Now hang on, Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery-san! Don't go sneaking him the answer!" Korosensei exclaims, scratching himself all over...or attempting too. With his soft tentacles, it doesn't really work out.

"But sensei! You programmed me to give perks to my fellow students!" Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery protests.

"Cheating is _not_ a perk!" Korosensei yells.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ

"You can make stuff like this _inside_ of you?" Kurahashi and Okano gasp at the tiny replica of an ancient greek statue.

"Yes! I contain a type of plastic inside me that I can mold freely," Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery explains, smiling. "I can make anything I have the data for, not just guns!"

"What a sculpture!" Sugaya praises.

"How cool!" Yada coos. "You should try making some flowers!"

"Understood! I will look up data on flowers!"

"Thanks!"

Turning to face Chiba, Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery's robot hand moves. "Check, Chiba-kun!"

"Eh...!" Chiba pauses, then dumps his head on the shogi board. "Three matches in and I already can't win."

"She sure learns fast..." Maehara taps his chin.

"It's cool," Fuwa nods, then perks up. "Oh! There was this manga where an AI controlled the world through electronic drugs!"

"Are you referring to the super-popular detective manga, that was serialised into a major magazine and made into an anime?" Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery asks, smiling like she already knows the answer.

"How come you know about that but not about flowers?" Kataoka asks.

"Good question..."

"She turned out to be super popular!" Sugino laughs as he surveys the scene.

"Yeah, she can do lots of things at once and can makes whatever she wants!" Kaede chirps, standing next to Sugino and Nagisa, Korosensei watching the class behind them.

"Oh, crud!" Korosensei exclaims suddenly.

"Huh?" Nagisa jumps, whirling around. _What happened-_

"Her character type is just like mine!"

"It's nothing like yours!" Nagisa protests. "If anything, it's more like Isogai-kun and Kataoka-san's!"

"I went and upgraded her, and now she's encroaching on my popularity," Korosensei scrambles visibly for an idea. Nagisa sighs, preparing herself for something strange. "Look class! I can put on a human face too, you know!" Korosensei shouts, gathering everyone's attention. "See? I just change my skin colour a bit, and..." A shadow of a face lurks behind Korosensei's yellow one. It looks sinister, like Korosensei had swallowed someone.

"Creepy!" Mimura yelps.

Korosensei retreats to a corner, his head held in his hands. "Mimura-kun looked at my face...and called me creepy..."

"Hey, why don't we pick a name for her?" Kataoka speaks over Korosensei's sulking. "Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery is a bit of a mouthful."

"Sure is," Yada agrees.

"Let's see...why don't we take one word in Japanese?" Hara frowns, looking contemplative.

"How about 'Ritsu' from 'Jiritsu'?" Fuwa suggests.

"Cop-out," Chiba says in his flat voice, lifting his head up from the shogi board, the pieces falling off his face.

"Eh? Why not? It's cute!" Fuwa protests.

"Ritsu..." Autonomously Thinking Fixed Artillery murmurs.

"You alright with that?" Maehara asks.

"Yes! I love it!" Ritsu beams. "From now on, please call me Ritsu!"

"Looks like it just might work out," Nagisa walks to Karma's desk, where the redhead lounges with his feet on the table, offering him a smile before she taps his shoe.

"Hmm, I wonder," Karma sits up properly, removing his feet from the table. "It's like Terasaka said, you know? She's just following Korosensei's program. It's not like machines have a free will, remember? Wherever she goes from here...it's up to the guys who built her."

Nagisa watches the way Autonomous...the way Ritsu is interacting with their classmates, pulling up the many different characters for the word 'Ritsu'. The class takes turns tapping the characters the like best, and being astounded when Ritsu can 'feel' their touch, laughing when they tap the screen the area where her side is. Nagisa has a strange little warm feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"I don't think so," She smiles, reaching to tuck her hair behind her ear before she remembers that she has it tied up. "I think...Somehow I feel that everything will work out."

"Hmm?" Karma stares at the blue-haired girl before he chuckles. "If you say so."

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ

"Good morning, everyone," Ritsu greets the next morning, her voice mechanical and flat. Her full body screen has been reduced to it's original size, and so has her machinery. Her once-blue eyes are red again. Her smile is gone.

Nagisa feels a stabbing pain in her heart, for some reason.

"The government have clarified the terms of your agreement," Karasuma recites, his voice emotionless. "According to them, any unauthorised modifications will be considered as 'harm'." He turns to Terasaka. "The same for you. If you restrict her functionality or cause any damage, you will be asked to pay compensation."

"Tsk," Terasaka looks away.

"Those are her owner's wishes. We have to comply," Karasuma says plaintively.

The stabbing pain turns to squeezing, and Nagisa empathises with Ritsu. Parents who are not willing to let you be free...

"Owners? I don't know about that. I'd like to put my student's feelings before their parents," Korosensei admits.

Karma snickers in the background.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ

 _If she's been downgraded..._ Nagisa glances over her shoulder. Ritsu simply stares blankly at Korosensei. _Are we looking at another all day assault?_ The rest of her classmates are clearly thinking something similar, as everyone is keeping an eye on the AI. Except Karma. He's flipping through the textbook with a nonchalance that isn't faked. He really isn't worried. Nagisa's a little jealous of his devil-may-care attitude.

Fans whirl inside the machine, and Nagisa watches as words flicker on the screen. Gears turn.

 _Here it comes..._

Nagisa doesn't duck the way some of her other classmates do, waiting.

Two explosive sounds from behind her.

A third, giant one.

Nagisa whirls around, watching at petals fall slowly onto the floor of the classroom.

Instead of guns, Ritsu brandishes five large bouquets of flowers.

"I promised I'd make flowers," Ritsu says flatly. "Korosensei made 985 improvements to my body. My master judged most of them irrelevant to the assassination, and removed them, deleted them and restored me to my factory defaults." Petals begin to float around the class, fluttering everywhere. This elicits a few delighted gasps. "But from what I have learnt of the E Class, I myself decided that my ability to cooperate was essential to assassination. Therefore, before it was deleted, I hid the relevant software in a corner of my memory."

Nagisa's heart feels lighter.

"Wonderful, Ritsu-san!" Korosensei lifts his tentacles, his smile larger than before. "This must mean..."

"Yes!" Ritsu's face flickers onto the screen, a wide beam on her face as she looks around the class. "I have defied my master of my own will!"

Nagisa turns and meets Karma's eyes, tilting her head. The redhead simply throws his head back and chortles. "Nice one," Karma praises, lifting his hands up to catch at the petals.

Nagisa exchanges smiles with Sugino and Kaede and Manami, turning to the front to grin at Yukiko.

Ritsu's smile turns hesitant, the AI twisting her hair around her finger. "Korosensei, does this mean I am going through a rebellious phrase? Am I a bad girl now?"

Karma bursts into laughter again, in his typical insensitive way.

"Now at all, you are simply a third year middle student," Korosensei waggles his tentacle at Ritsu. "And a fine one at that!"

 _And so a new member joins our class,_ Nagisa smiles at Karma, who simply blows her a kiss. _And twenty-six becomes twenty-seven. That's one more person trying to kill Korosensei!_

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"Karasuma, Karasuma!" Irina bursts into the staff room, a grin on her face. "Is it true that drawing a face makes me more popular?" On her exposed chest, a strange face is drawn in some brown substance.

"You couldn't be further from the mark!" Karasuma shouts.

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 **YAY! Finished it.**

 **Many, many hours late O.O**

 **As an apology for the bland chapter, there will be three extras**

 **Now, review replies~~~~**

 _ **Xenocanaan:** Thank you ^^_

 ** _Roseheart37819:_** _GYAK! GOTTA GO CHANGE IT OMG :O My typos are so embarrassing *becomes a ball* *rereads work as a ball* OMG LOLOLOL I'M TEMPTED TO LEAVE IT THERE XD (oh my gosh my own typo made me laugh o.O)_

 _ **Amaya Kuruta** : Quick questions - is your name Kuruta because Kurapika from Hunter x Hunter or is it your real name? Sorry, but I really wanted to ask that :P YES I'M WORKING HARD. Whew! And yes, I'm sorry but one of my OTP's in this is Karma x Nagisa, so noooo! Karma ain't sayin' he like Okuda. Again: YES THEY ARE TOO CUTE TO SPLIT UP! XD _

_My civil war :? Hmmm, you'll see ^^_

 _Yay, hugs galore *hug* Thanks Amaya XD_

 ** _AriaBRFTCK (both reviews):_** _Your english is fine ^^ understandable XD_

 _Anyway, thank you very much! I had never heard of rule 63 before this O.O Nice to know about it :O Oh, thank you again for the compliment XD Torture more than entertainment? Oh gosh I_ really _hope mine isn't like that;; I like the Karma and Nagisa is a couple thing too :P_

 _Thank you very much ^^_

 ** _FlamingAngel525:_** _Eek! *Bounces up and down* (Wait, why we squealing tho?) Well I hope you're too too upset that this chapter has ended, because there's gonna be *drumroll* THREE EXTRAS (lol) Hope you have fun reading XD_

 ** _RinnTachibana:_** _My heart is already a gooey mess cause I'm contributing to KarmaGisa FLUFFY STUFF XD Oh the scene between guys and girls? Want to know the secret behind it? I asked my friends what guys/girls girl/boy talk about at sleepovers, (since I'm the immature potato who stuffs my face with chips and laughs uproariously when people admit their crushes) then took notes and from there - trashed my notes, wung it and mashed it with episode eight. Ta daaaaaaaa You get those scenes Lol ^^ How did Mimura notice...director mushroom is observant! Duh! (I think lol) Yuuji...I'm going to have_ so _much fun writing that XD Ah, a flashback? No, but I will be elaborating more on their relationship and the how they got together XD IT WILL BE A SPECIAL CHAPTER ^^ [Also, how did you guess? Since in my mind, Nagisa seems like the type who will SUPPRESS their emotions because they cannot belive, in any universe, that anyone would like them. But even then, Karma seems like the type who falls in like/love fast and explosively and beautifully and confesses whenever they want. I mean, it's the connection and not the time that matters when you like someone)_

 ** _Guest (on chapter 7):_** _EVERYBODY KNOWS ALREADY XD (not really, just a few...several of them) Hope you liked the last chapter_

 ** _LadyDark17:_** _(I like your profile pic, btw) Karma and Nagisa really are adorable *nods* XD Yay! Stay on your toes for the extrassss #selfpromo Paradise? YES ONE OF THE ULTIMATE COMPLIMENTs! I GOT ONE OF THEM WHOOP WHOOP! Yay, keep having faith, because this potato is here to stay :) And wait till you see discord time, nurufufufufufu_

 ** _Marshmallow:_** _IT'S OUTTTTTTTT! YAY! XD I'll make sure never to post a chapter a month late *nods seriously* I will never do that. Never. (My sister started playing 'never say never'. Thanks sis) Tangents? Well, that's a strange subject change;; uh, yeah, they're all over my math papers *sigh* I've always liked this too! But episode 23 and...WAIT THERE ARE ONLY 22 EPISODES WHAT I BE SAYIN'?! I mean *clears throat* I like episode 19 and 20 (that's the shoot-out episode, right?) those two are my favourites [Also SHIP SHIP SHIP] Oo, which Pokemon game? Yes, I am a girl *flips hair* and I am butt-plain. Which is nice, I gather a lot of gossip that way lolol. ^^ I another idea in my head (how they revealed that they were dating) but I realised that Karma and Nagisa are the epitome of obvious, so some of their classmates would already know (Original version: Nagisa tells the girls, who scream like they're being murdered and the next thing you know...the boys, Karasuma-sensei, Bitch-sensei and Korosensei are all coming in to see what's going on and who died and they see Nagisa being glomped and her hair being ruffled by about 12 other girls and she's just like 'What's going on...?') Yay! I was going to get this out on time, but then now I'm sixteen hours late. Sigh. I hope you're not to upset, I_ kinda _didn't follow your order, but sixteen hours late is better than my usual like, 36. It's less than half! (I think) *narrows eyes* You need to sleep too!_

 ** _Princess630:_** _Yay! How I come up with these ideas...well you see, when I am sleeping, I have a_ lot _of weird dreams. So yeah. It kinda stems from there. Plus sometimes I just wonder around daily life and see ridiculous things and I'm like LOLOL I'M PUTTING THAT IN so I guess I draw inspiration from anything at all? Meh. It's a weird me thing. Haha, I'd like to read your fic ^^ I definitely will if you post it :3 I also get some inspiration from reading like a batload of stuff. Seriously. You'll be amazed where you can get ideas from. OF COURSE I WILL MAKE MY OWN CHAPTERS! I've been thinking of doing .5 chapters for a long time now XD I'll post them when they come to it ^^ I hope this chapter didn't kill you, anyway, it was so bland *melts in a bad way* Hope you like the extras tho!_

 ** _HappyGuy:_** _DID YOU JUST...! OH MY GOSH I LOVE PUNSSSSS ALL MY FRIENDS PUNNN and wow, wow, I really want a McFlurry mudpie now *fans self* Thank you for loving this eight-now-nine piece of fic ^^_

 ** _Ginger Hale:_** _(Girrrrrllll you need to change your password lol) Yay! Yes they could be a little more obvious (namely flashing neon lights broadcasting it) and yep XD_

 _YOU THOUGHT SO TOO? I didn't notice at first, you know. I was like oh, Nagisa should help Karma clean his clothes! And my sister looked over my shoulder and read through the chapter and was like 'WHY SHE BURNING HIS CLOTHES THO' so then I realised what it looked like O.O Nagisa?! A Yandere? Noooo, (s)he's too sweet!_

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 _Extrasss #1:_

 _Popcorn and Ritsu_

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"Why did you bring corn kernels?" Nagisa asks Karma as they walk to school. "And caramel?"

"Because, Nagisa, there is this wonderful invention called the frying pan, and we can use it to make popcorn." Karma replies easily, waving the corn in front of Nagisa's face.

"Don't we need a microwave?" Nagisa crosses her eyes to see the corn properly.

"No, that's the bad type of popcorn," Karma sighs, moving the bag of corn away from her face. "I'll make you the good kind and you'll never touch the bad stuff again!"

"As long you don't put too much sugar, I'll eat it," Nagisa says dubiously.

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"Good morning, Nagisa-san, Karma-kun!" Ritsu greets the duo as they enter the classroom. "I have found something interesting online, you might want to see it!"

"During lunch, OK Ritsu?" Nagisa smiles, dumping her bag on her desk. Really, she's very tempted to eat Karma's 'good kind' of popcorn. Say what you like about the redhead, but he can cook.

"Very well! Oh, the kitchen is empty right now, Karma-kun," Ritsu supplies.

"Zhanku (Thank you)!" Karma flings his bag in the general vicinity of his table, not even pausing to apologise when it hits Terasaka in the face before he dashes out of the classroom, holding his corn and caramel under his arms.

"Do you know what's going on, Nagisa-san?" Ritsu asks.

"He wants to make popcorn," Nagisa scratches her cheek a little awkwardly.

"Oh! How fitting!"

"How so?"

By the time lunch rolls around, Nagisa is extremely curious as to what's going on. As her classmates leave the class for their food, Karma disappears to the small kitchen in the school too 'finish the last leg of amazingness'...or something like that. The point is, all Nagia knows is that Karma's being weird.

"Do _you_ know what's going on, Ritsu?" Nagisa stares after Karma, frowning.

"Yes! For now, please move Sugino-kun's desk and clear a space in front of me," Ritsu instructs cheerfully as alway.

"O-OK..." Nagisa follows Ritsu's instructions. What on _earth_ is Karma doing?

"Back!" Karma all but explodes into the classroom, throwing the door wide open and clutching a bowl in his arms. "Ritsu, what was it you wanted to show us?"

"Here you go!" Ritsu's face disappears from her screen, a video trailer showing instead.

"Oh! Sonic Ninja!" Nagisa exclaims, her eyes shining.

"Popcorn?" Karma offers her the bowl.

"Thank you," Nagisa kisses his cheek before focussing on the movie.

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 _Extras #2:_

 _Arcadeee~~_

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"Whoa this place is wicked cool!" Kaede exclaims, turning a full round so that she can take in every flashing light, every loud game blasting music.

"Isn't it?" Yukiko asks, smiling gracefully.

"Oh, you have VIP access due to your skills?" Karma whistles. "Nice. I'm not skilled enough to get that yet."

"It's nothing much," Yukiko murmurs, clearly embarrassed.

"It's amazing!" Sugino jumps to praise the dark haired girl, grinning widely. "This place is amazing!"

"Yes, it's really cool that you made it in because of your talents alone, Yukiko," Nagisa compliments, smiling kindly at Yukiko.

"Yes!" Manami beams as well.

Nagisa isn't sure when the six of them became a group outside of the school trip, but it's more fun with six than four.

"Come over here, there are a row of Mai Mai machines," Yukiko leads them through the rows of games, showing off a wall filled with large, bulky machines that are all blaring out loud music and Nagisa stares in wonder at all the strange games. "For Manami, Kaede and Nagisa, because they probably prefer more girlish games."

"IS THERE PROJECT DIVA?!" Kaede gasps, her hands flying up to her mouth.

"Over here," Yukiko gestures to another machine.

"YASS! MANAMI, PLAY WITH ME!" Kaede grabs Manami's arm, dragging her to the Project Diva machines.

"Let's play Mai Mai then," Yukiko smiles at the other three. "We can play four player."

Nagisa toys with the bandage on her elbow. It's her first time in an arcade. "I don't know how to play," She admits.

"It's just a rhythm game," Karma sets his hands on her shoulders, steering her to the large machines. "A little girly, but pretty fun. You playing, Baseball?"

"It's _Sugino,_ " Sugino sighs. "Uh...Kanzaki, would you teach me how to play, then?"

"Of course!" Yukiko smiles again, taking Sugino's wrist and dragging him to the machine. As she begins to explain the game to him, Karma and Nagisa claim another set of games.

"How are we going to play together?" Nagisa shouts, having to compete with the loud music.

"There's up to a four player function, see?" Karma slides in a few coins, then taps a card on the reader of the machine in front of him.

On the screen of the game, a cartoon version of four games pop up, all grey except the third, which is yellow in colour, the words 'Karma' written on top of it.

"So I'm this one," Karma taps the third. Sliding in more coins, he presses the button of the machine in front of Nagisa. "And this one is you," He taps the forth, where it has turned yellow, the words 'guest' on it. "Here's how you play..."

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"You're really good, Yukiko!" Kaede exclaims.

After Yukiko completetly beasted them in Mai Mai (double A's for everything?! She even played 'The disappearance of Hatsune Miku' at Master! Nagisa couldn't _see_ most of those notes!) , Kaede had called her over to play the Project Diva game.

While smiling as calmly as ever, Yukiko's fingers where rapidly pressing buttons at the right times, completely beasting the game.

"Nice," Karma says again, his arm wrapped around Nagisa.

"Yeah, how did you get to good?!" Sugino asks.

"Practice," Yukiko answers simply. Soon, she clears the level with 86.58% on the song.

"Whoa!" Manami gasps. "You're amazing Yukiko-san!

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 _Extrass #3_

 _Dollhouse_

 _(The night before she receives bruises)_

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"Nagisa, sweetheart," A sugary sweet voice calls from the kitchen.

Nagisa glances at the window of her room. Karma is supposed to come over.

"Yes, mother?" Nagisa replies, beginning to scrawl a note to her redhead boyfriend.

"Nagisa, please come to the kitchen."

Nagisa places her note on the windowsill before she leaves the room.

Her mother sits at the dining table, her back facing Nagisa. Tentatively, Nagisa takes the seat opposite her mother, searching her face.

It's all dark.

"Nagisa, I had a call recently..."

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Thirty minutes, seven new bruises and several sore spots later, Nagisa stumbles back into her room.

"Nagisa?" Karma is lounging on her bed, reading a book.

"Hi..." Nagisa shuts and locks the door behind her, sighing as she collapses onto the ground. Closing her eyes, she silently counts to ten and prays this is a dream.

"Nagisa?! Oh, god, don't cry," she hears the sound of sheets rustling, and then arms are around her. "You can cry now."

"Thank you, Karma..." Nagisa whimpers, clutching at Karma's shirt. The bump on her forehead, the pain in her elbow, the throbbing of her thigh...all seem to become better as Karma holds her close to him.

"Why on earth do you still-"

"It's normal, right?" Nagisa mumbles, feeling the wet tears slide down her cheeks. "It's just...it must be annoying. I don't do what I told and I'm always just-"

"Nagisa..."

She goes silent, wrapping her arms around Karma as she cries.

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 **Oh I made myself sad. Oops.**

 **hope you liked it!**

 **I think...**

 **Anwyay, yep!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes: Karma's POV at one point, which is why Kaede reverts back to Kayano there :P**

 **Also uses of swear words 'Bitch' and 'Slut' and 'bastard' just a warning :P**

 **Hmm...started this a day or two late cause my computer got stolen by an ass in my class. Seriously. My friend stole it back, so it was all fine lolol.**

 **Also, I just had a really _stupid_ talk from my school. It was all on outward appearances and how to behave as a lady. It got everyone in school so riled ****up, every time someone challenged the speaker, there were cheers and applause. I'm so upset because the speaker clearly wanted us to be 'proper ladies', by teaching us 'manners' last used in the 1700's. I'm super steamed. Ack.**

 **On the bright side, I got more material for Nagisa's backstory from that ^^**

 **Side note -**

 **I'M AT THE TENTH CHAPTER, 100+ FOLLOWERS AND 100+ FAVOURITES and 100 REVIEWS :O OMG OMG I LOVE YOU GUYS THANK YOU FOR NOT** **RAGE QUITTING ON ME**

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 _Chapter 10:_

 _Humid Time!_

 _ **or** _

_The first Manga-only event_

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"Hey, Nagisa."

Nagisa looks up from where she's struggling to open her umbrella, blinking when she sees Karma standing over her, a red umbrella over his shoulder.

"Hello," She smiles at him before returning to violently shaking her umbrella. "What might you be doing here?"

"What do you think," Karma snorts, then laughs. "It's the morning, just about time to go to school and I'm waiting at the foot of your apartment block. What _could_ I be doing?"

"I don't know?" Nagisa shakes her umbrella again, trying her best to open it.

"Here," Karma shoves his umbrella into her hands, expertly snapping open Nagisa's old blue umbrella. Taking back his umbrella, Karma starts into the rain. "I'm obviously waiting for you, duh."

"Oh," Nagisa's eyes widen, then she smiles. "Thank you." She stands still a while longer, watching Karma. He stands out, a bright red person in a sea of darker ones. With the rain falling around him, his retreating back...it looks...

 _Ephemeral._

"Nagisa, you coming?" Karma turns to face her and Nagisa shakes her head, clearing it of the strange thoughts. Karma is here to stay.

"Coming," Rushing forward, she walks the closest she can to him with her umbrella, their hands brushing with every step.

"You did your hair differently today," Karma speaks up after a while, his hand moving up to her hair, toying with it.

"A ponytail!" Nagisa grins. She had been waiting for him to point it out, her blue hair tied into a high ponytail with the hair tie Karma had given her wrapped around it. "I think I look like Yada-san!"

"No, you look nicer than her," Karma laughs, carding his fingers through her ponytail as he drops a kiss on her head. "What's the occasion, then?"

"It's June," Nagisa beams, moving away from Karma and spinning around and around, swinging her umbrella. She looks as free as a child, grinning like that while acting so...childlike? So carefree? Karma isn't sure how to describe it. Cute, maybe. "I moved to Japan in this month, remember? So many years ago."

"Oh, yeah, I remember," Karma watches Nagisa with a soft smile. It's always wonderful when Nagisa acts as free as this, not caring all the looks, some strange, some gentle, she's gaining from strangers, like the weight that comes from the years of abuse from her mother falls off her shoulders, and she can smile brightly and wonderfully, soaring towards the sky. It's beautiful. "Any other reason?"

"No," Nagisa twirls on one foot, like a ballerina, before she stumbles. Karma is there immediately, grabbing her elbow. Sometimes Nagisa worries him.

"No?" Karma tilts his head, watching the raindrops fall onto Nagisa, slowly but surely soaking her. Her umbrella is held out at a ninety degree angle, sheltering nothing.

"Papa wrote..." Nagisa tentatively begins to spin the umbrella handle, water fanning out everywhere.

"Oh?" Karma doesn't despise Nagisa's father like he does _that woman_ , but he isn't very fond of him either. What sort of man leaves his daughter with that kind of woman?!

"He wants to see me again," Nagisa spins it faster and faster. "I thought...well, he wants to see mother also. I think maybe..."

"They might talk things through?" Karma sets his hand on Nagisa's, stopping her from twirling the umbrella into outer space or something. "Nagi, your parents-"

"I know, it's just," Nagisa swings her umbrella around. "A girl can hope, right?"

"Yeah," Karma grins. "Still, your hair?

"Well, Papa was bound to have changed, to be different from what I remember, so I thought I should try something new," Nagisa toys with her ponytail, suddenly shy, her umbrella upside down, forgotten. "Should I have not...?"

"No, it's great," Karma covers her with his umbrella and grins, taking her hand and kissing her fingers. "Shall we continue to school?"

 _It's June._

 _And,_

 _The rainy season has come._

Nagisa rests her head on Karma's shoulder.

 _And,_

 _The day Korosensei destroys the earth is nine months away._

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

 _It's huge..._

 _It's gotten so big..._

Nagisa can practically read the minds of her classmates, mostly because she is thinking along the same line.

"Korosensei," Ritsu speaks up, the AI daring enough to say what is considered ill-mannered. "Please explain why your head is roughly thirty-three percent larger than it's original size."

"Oh, that," Korosensei places down his chalk, turning. His voice is thick, and a lot mushy. "It absorbed the humidity and swelled right up."

 _Korosensei weak point #13: He's prone to dampness_

"Just like uncooked rice!" Okajima screeches.

"I avoided all the raindrops on the way to school, but I can't do a thing about the humidity," Korosensei begins wringing out his face into a bucket.

"And I don't think the way our classroom is built helps," Yada lifts the bucket, clearing the collected out of the window. "There."

"Man, at times like this, I envy the main campus people. They have air conditioning," Maehara groans. "I'm almost willing to try to get back in, evil idiots in there or no."

"They're too smart for you to call them idiots, Hiroto," Isogai laughs a little awkwardly.

"Smart or not, they're a bunch of butts," Maehara says airily.

"Butts?" Mimura bursts into laughter. "Who even says _butts_ anymore? That's so primary school!"

"Well, what else do you want me to say?!" Maehara yells angrily.

"I don't know...asses maybe?"

"What even-"

"Korosensei, what happened to your hat?" Kurahashi yells over the two arguing boys, raising her hand high so that she's impossible to miss. "It's a bit loose." True enough, Korosensei's hat is tilted a little.

"How kind of you to ask, Kurahashi-san," Korosensei takes of his hat. "This is because it has finally grown," Sitting on the center of Korosensei's head is a single mushroom. "My hair, that is."

 _Err..._

"That's a mushroom!" Mimura and Maehara yelp, argument forgotten.

"Does Korosensei have some kind of fertiliser in his head?!" Okajima exclaims.

"If it helps, I can begin looking up data for fans and constructing a large fan to blow wind around the classroom in a powerful fashion. With that, there will be some relief, even with the humidity," Ritsu suggests.

"Yes, please," Hara gasps, and Nagisa turns to look at the larger girl, who's sweating an awful lot, looking a little blank-faced.

"Nevertheless, I'm sure even these rainy seasons have their benefits," Korosensei places his hat back on his mushroom. "Now let's spend these dreary, wet days in high spirits."

 _Oh, right,_ Nagisa around class. Most of her classmates _do_ look bummed out, frowning and sighing and staring at the rain. It's strange. _Perhaps it's due to where I_ _grew up that I'm_ _so used to the wet weather,_ Nagisa thinks, fanning herself. _The humidity is new, though._

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

"C'mon," Sugino weedles, trying to snatch Kayano's parfait from her. "Just let me have the strawberry on top-"

Grinning, Karma taps the screen of his phone for a clearer shot. It blurs for a second before clearing, capturing Kayano and Sugino perfectly.

"No! I always save the best for last!" Kayano bats Sugino away, scowling. "Just because Yukiko isn't here means that you can bully me."

"I'm hardly bullying you!" Sugino exclaims.

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

"Are you recording this?" Karma glances to his left, where Nagisa stands. Her hands are cupped around her mouth, her voice so soft that he nearly doesn't hear her.

"Yes," He whispers back. "Duh."

"OK," Nagisa takes her bag back from Karma, winking at him as she rummages through her bag. Idly, Karma finds himself wondering if she had bought him another gift. She always seemed to buy him little trinkets and other stuff, things that she somehow guess he will either like or find interesting. Nagisa has good taste. "Here," Nagisa places something in Karma's hand, placing her index finger over her lips.

Karma grins, then brings the thing in his hand up to his mouth, takes a deep breath and-

TWEET!

A loud, sharp, shrill sound echoes through the air.

"What was that?!" Sugino and Kayano shriek, hands clamped over their ears.

"Who'd have guessed, it worked," Karma laughs, bringing the whistle away from his mouth. "Where'd you get this from?"

"My neighbour gave it to me," Nagisa shrugs. "She said it was a safety whistle that she didn't need anymore, but it looked interesting so I accepted it and cleaned it."

"You gave him a _safety whistle?!"_ Sugino gapes at Nagisa. "What about our ears?"

" _Sh_ _anku, shortucaku,_ " Karma grabs Nagisa's hands, bringing it up to his lips as he kisses her fingers. "Great gift, as always."

"Please don't abuse it, Karma," Nagisa looks at Karma, blinking her large eyes innocently. Urgh. When she uses that expression...how can he say no?

"Alright," Karma blows in the whistle just once more, for indulgence sake, before he stows it in his bag. Bummer. "Can I blow it in class?"

"Not during lessons," Nagisa gives him a stern glare.

"What about an assassination, though."

"If it calls for it, sure."

"What about a school trip?"

"If you get lost."

"What about while I'm in your hous-"

"No."

"Kayano? Nagisa?" Nagisa and Karma turns. Standing in front of them is Okano, Kurahashi, Kataoka and Hayami. Kurahashi beams, waving widely. "You guys wanna hit the ice cream parlor?"

"Sure," Kayano chirps. Karma smiles. He loves ice cream.

"The one down the street, or the hokkaido one near that other station?" Nagisa asks.

"Hokkaido," Kataoka responds. "We've been saving up for it."

"Indeed," Hayami agrees.

"Hokkaido ice cream sounds great," Karma slings his arm around Nagisa, steering her to where the parlour is. "Let's go, I want to put salt into other people's ice cream."

"Well, just for today, OK?" Nagisa smiles.

"Hey look at that," Okano speaks up, staring across the road. "Isn't that Maehara?"

Karma sighs, but turns to look anyway.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

Nagisa fingers the silk flower in her hair, staring at Maehara. the tawny haired boy is sharing an umbrella with a unfamiliar, pretty girl. The girl's hair is long past her shoulders and dark, brushed neatly. She's quite slim too, with a nice body shape. There's a wide smile on her face as the couple laugh together, their shoulders brushing with every step.

"It's surprisingly cute," Kataoka comments.

"Oo~" Sugino laughs. "Nice to see he's as popular as ever."

"Isn't that Kaho?" Hayami asks.

Nagisa blinks in surprise. Who's Kaho? One glance at Kaede's face confirms that she doesn't know either (why would she, though? It's her first year in Kunugigaoka) but the other girls, Okano, Kurahashi and Kataoka make knowing little noises.

"Who?" Karma asks.

"Tsuchiya Kaho," Okano supplies. "She's in 3C. I-"

"I despise her," Hayami scowls.

"Kaho was our classmate in our first and second year," Kataoka explains, tapping her foot. "The fact that she and Maehara are-"

"Ooh, now I see," The group of students jump when they hear the new voice. Turning, the see Korosensei in a raincoat, scribbling something into a notebook. "Maehara-kun is sharing an umbrella with Kaho-san..."

 _Korosensei's weak point #12: He loves gossip_

"Your love for gossip from your students is showing, Korosensei," Sugino sighs.

"Nurufufufufufufu," Korosensei beams. "Of course. I plan on releasing a non-fiction novel by the third trimester of all the students love stories. The first chapter will be Sugino-kun's feelings, which will never reach Kanzaki-san..."

"I definitely gotta kill you before you take that to the press..." Sugino flushes, a vein bulging in his forehead.

"Another chapter will be the possibility of romantic feelings between Hayami-san and Chiba-kun-"

"There is nothing going on between Chiba and I," Hayami cuts Korosensei off cooly, frowning.

"Kataoka-san and the trail of broken hearts behind her-"

"Those aren't on purpose!" Kataoka yells. "It's not my fault all those girls keep-"

"Kayano-san and Mimura-kun-"

"Mimura? The bowl cut guy?" Kaede's jaw drops. "How am I paired with Mimura-kun?!"

"He said you were cute, though," Sugino taps his chin.

"He said what?!"

"He did?"

Kaede and Karma chorus.

"And I will end it off with a love story - Nagisa-san and Karma-kun's!" Korosensei swoons, hugging his notebook, ignoring the rest. "I cannot wait to uncover your story."

Karma and Nagisa exchange looks.

"It's a very boring story, though," Nagisa shrugs, breaking eye contact with Karma. The story is long, and strange.

"It's great, you were so petty and stuff!" Karma laughs, and Nagisa's cheeks flame.

"I wasn't petty," She mumbles, twiddling her thumbs.

"Yes, yes, you were, _Shortucaku,"_ Karma all but cackles.

"Weren't you the petty one?" Nagisa pouts, folding her arms.

"Yes, but you followed pettiness with pettiness."

Nagisa looks away.

"Hah! I gotcha there!"

"Sorry..." Nagisa sighs.

Korosensei's hand flies over his notebook, the pen scrawling at a speed beyond human capacity. "How cute. Karma-kun, you will have to tell me this story one day."

"Sure! Any day would do, of course-"

"NO!"

"Anyway," Okano interrupts. "Maehara's chapter will be very long."

"Longer than Megu-chan's!" Kurahashi chirps. "He's very popular with girls."

 _Of course,_ Nagisa stares at the tawny haired boy. _He's good-looking, and active in athletics. If this were another world...no, if he were in a normal school, with better_ _grades, he would probably be even more popular._

"Ogling Maehara?" Karma whispers, elbowing her with a smirk.

"He's good-looking," Nagisa shrugs.

"Can't argue."

"You're better looking, though," Nagisa grasps Karma's hand, smiling.

"Longer than mine? What do you mean?!" Kataoka is demanding in the meantime.

"That is true. The girl he is with always changes," Hayami stares at Kaho and Maehara, ignoring Kataoka.

"Isogai said that Maehara is loyal," Kataoka shurgs.

"Loyal how?" Kurahashi looks confused, tapping her chin.

"Like doesn't cheat loyal or friend loyal or...?" Okano asks.

"He does go out with lots of girls, just not at the same time," Hayami ignores the other girls, the crease in her forehead deepening. "But _Kaho?_ "

"Why not?" Karma taps his chin. "She's pretty enough."

"Very pretty," Nagisa agrees, shifting her umbrella.

"She needs some colour, though," Karma holds up his fingers in a box shape. "Her hair is dark, so's her eyes, her skin is pale and her clothes are grey. Boring."

"She's nice enough look-wise," Hayami explains. "But horrible on the inside. She always dates more than one person at a time. Ryu-Chiba mentioned that she asked him out before."

"Hate those types," Kaede begins flapping her arms. "So bad."

"Maybe she changed?" Sugino shrugs. "You never know."

 _Famous last words._

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"Hmm...? If it isn't Kaho. What're you doing?" An unfamiliar voice cuts into the conversation Kaho and Maehara are having. Five students step behind the couple. One of them, the one in the front, is a boy only a little taller than Maehara,with dark hair that goes down to the nape of his neck, and dark, almond-shaped eyes. His nose is rather big, and he has large lips, pulled into a sneer.

"A new ambiguity," Hayami observes. "An ugly one too."

Okano and Kaede bursts into laughter, Sugino and Karma joining soon after. Nagisa only smiles, Kataoka and Kurahashi exchanging looks in front of her.

"A-Ah! Seo-kun!" Kaho more or less throws herself away from Maehara, pushing the tawny-haired boy away, racing towards the five students. "Weren't you staying back for student council work...?"

"Plot twist," Kaede smirks. "Show your true colours, big busted lady!"

"Yes, please do," Okano snarls.

Nagisa had forgotten their animosity to girls with...bigger chests.

"She's not big busted..." Kataoka sighs. "She's about my size."

"But she's fake," Kaede frowns, staring at Kaho. "Look at her worried face."

They stare at Kaho, who's laughing nervously as she titters to 'Seo' and the others.

"That guy is..." Seo turns his attention to Maehara, standing a little ways away from them, watching Kaho and the boys.

"Y-you've got it all wrong, Seo-kun..." Kaho fumbles with her words, the colour draining from her face.

"Busted," Karma grins.

"CHEATING IS BAD KIDS!" Korosensei yelps frantically, flapping his tentacles. "OK?"

"We know," The students all shush Korosensei, watching as it all seems to click in Maehara's brain.

"I didn't have an umbrella, and he just happened to come along and offer his..." Kaho's smile is painful to look at as she digs up excuses.

"You brought one with you from home, though," Seo replies.

"I-I forgot it at school...!" Kaho's lie is so obvious.

"Tsk tsk," Kataoka sighs. "She still hasn't learnt."

"Indeed," Hayami watches Kaho try to come up with better explanations. "And she's a bad liar."

"Honestly, I don't get her. Pick the better looking one," Kaede sighs, bringing her palm up to her forehead. "Don't go with the ugly one! Maehara is so good looking, but she's going with that thick lipped boy?"

"Ah, so that's how it is," Maehara cuts off Kaho's poor excuses with practiced ease, his umbrella resting on his shoulder as his hands go to his pockets, watching Kaho and Seo. "Lately, you've rarely answer the phone when I call, and you've suddenly switched from cycling to school to commuting by train." Maehara smiles slightly, bloodlust behind the upturned corners of his lips. "So, you figured you keep me around for when your new boyfriend's busy?"

("Are you filming?" Nagisa jabs Karma.

"Shush, this is golden.")

"Kaho, you little-" Seo starts, when Kaho throws up her hands.

"He's wrong!" Kaho insists, her voice weak. "It's not like that at all..."

"Am I?" Marhara challenges. "Is it not?"

"You-You've...you've got it all wrong..." Kaho's voice becomes smaller. "It's not like that at all..."

"Go get her, Maehara!" Kurahashi yells across the street.

Kaho freezes, her expression morphing to one of guilt. "It's not...like...that..."

Suddenly, an evil glint comes into her dark eyes, her expression becoming something disgusting, borderline evil.

"Oh, I sense something utterly disgusting coming out of that girl's pores," Karma comments lightly.

"Yeah..." Sugino watches the scene. "The question is what..."

"Hey, don't you know you're trash?" Kaho points at Maehara, her eyes cold. "You didn't put in any effort and now you're in class E, at the bottom of the pack."

"Sock her!" Okano mumbles.

Maehara's eyes are wide, disbelieving.

"On top of that, Class E students don't advance to Kunugigaoka high school," Kaho continues. "And sooner or later we'd have lost touch, anyway. I thought you might be in shock from falling into the E Class, so I didn't want to cause you anxiety and break it off to you directly, but I wished you'd notice without me needing to say so."

"Really." Kaede deadpans. "She picks the butt ugly one. With the weird voice."

"HAHAHAHAHA," Seo snort-laughs and Nagisa covers her ears. It's a horrid sound. "There's no way he'd figure it out with those Class E brains of his!"

"Look in a mirror," Kaede murmurs.

"You're very salty today, Kayanocchi," Okano pokes the other girl. "Do you maybe have a crush on-"

"An idol crush of course!" Kaede immediately defends. "If anyone hurts the second best looking guy in our class-"

"Who's first?" Sugino asks.

"Errr..." Nagisa points back to the confrontation. "Focus, guys."

"Of course not," Kaho giggles. "He's too stupid to even make the simplest assumptions."

A flash of hurt passes over Maehara's face before it's gone, smoothened over with a hard expression. "Isn't that like the pot calling the kettle black?"

Seo's foot lashes out and kicks Maehara into the ground.

Nagisa's hands fly to her mouth.

"You really don't get that we're not going to be in the same high school, do you?" Seo snarls. Maehara stares up at the other male in shock. "Even if we do anything to you, it won't cause any harm to us." He drives his heel into Maehara's arm

"Maehara!" Okano exclaims.

"Now give Kaho a proper apology for sharing the same umbrella as her!" Seo and his lackeys form a ring around Maehara, kicking and beating him.

"Why, those guys..." Sugino growls, tossing his umbrella to one side.

"Karma..." Nagisa whimpers.

"Yep," Karma pushes his umbrella into Nagisa's hands, hopping over the road dividers and dashing across the street, where Maehara is being beaten up. Without hesitation, the redhead punches Seo right in the center of his face, causing him to rear back. Sugino follows Karma's path soon after, grabbing one of Seo's lackeys and shoving him back into the wall, socking him in the gut. The other three students begin to retaliate now, fighting against the two boys while Kaho holds her school bag in front of her face, as though she can hide behind it. Okano suddenly tosses aside all her belongings, hopping over the road dividers. She makes a beeline for Kaho, grabbing her and pinning her roughly against the road dividers, a hard expression on her face as Kaho cries out in alarm. Nagisa watches as one of the three students aim a clumsy punch at Karma, only for him to nimbly dodge and grab that person by the neck, lifting him and tossing him to the side, near Maehara. Sugino manages to land a kick on a charging student, sending them flying back against the wall. By this time, however, Seo and the lackey number two have recovered, and the three boys eye Karma and Sugino warily.

"You alright, pretty boy?" Karma pokes Maehara with his foot, not even a scratch on him. Seo's lackeys have _all_ recovered by now, eyeing each other like they're daring one to go against Akabane. As always, word of Karma seems to have reached everyone. "Need me to call your caretaker?"

"M'm f-fine..." Maehara struggles to his feet, then collapses. "Don't bother Yuma..." Maehara struggles to sit up.

"Too late, I'll ask him to bring a stretcher and some ice," Karma pulls out his phone, tapping the screen a few times. "'Class rep, your underling got beaten up lol. Come fetch him. Bring hospital stuff. Haha. We're on...XXX street, in front of the traffic light.' And send."

"Karma, don't-argh," Maehara winces, falling to the ground again again.

"Maehara," Sugino begins to crouch down when Seo lunges for the two boys.

Karma laughs, bringing back his fist (his phone gripped in it) and-

"Please stop."

The commanding voice stops the fight.

A sleek black car had stopped near the fight, and now, someone exits.

Nagisa's breath hitches in her throat.

 _Oh goodness..._

"B-Board Chairman..." Seo stammers.

Okano releases Kaho, a foot dug against the other girl's to keep her from moving.

"Violence is not the answer," Asano smiles warmly, walking towards the group of students. "You are allowing your heart to become as wild as today's weather." He kneels down next to Maehara, his knee going into a puddle and holds out a folded square of cloth. "Please use this to dry yourself. I am glad I managed to step in before things took a turn for the worse, right Akabane?" Asano turns his smile to Karma.

"Well, I dunno, I've been itching for some blood," Karma sighs dramatically. "I barely got any..." Karma shows Asano his fist. From her angle, Nagisa can't see what is on it, but it's enough to make the Board Chairman's face harden. "Tastes good though," Karma licks his knuckles.

"Err..." Okano, Kataoka and Kurahashi turn to look at Nagisa, who smiles apologetically.

"He can get like that," She offers

Kaede stares, the looks back at Nagisa. "Why are you dating him?"

Nagisa shrugs.

"Because she likes him, obviously," Hayami answers instead, before pointing back at the confrontation.

"Akabane, you really enjoy testing my patience," Asano laughs. "That's what makes you very interesting. The stronger you seem, the bigger your weakness. Find the pin and you can break the balloon."

"Ah, but in recent years, it's proven that you can stick a pin in a balloon and have it remain strong," Karma wags his finger at Asano.

"What's even happening..." Kaede sighs.

"You were all very close to being removed from this school," Asano ignores Karma's words, looking right into Maehara's eyes. "Especially you, since you insinuated the fight, Maehara-kun."

Maehara's lips quiver, but he meets Asano's gaze head-on.

"Well then everyone, be careful on your way home!" Asano stands, smiling and waving at the students. "Goodbye!"

"W-We will!" Kaho stares after the board chairman, looking delighted. "Good bye!"

"The board chairman is a real understanding guy," One of Seo's lackeys comments. "Without caring that he'd get wet, he gave that thing his handkerchief..."

"Isn't that great...?" Karma smirks, tucking his hands into his pockets.

"Out of respect to the board chairman, I'll excuse your attempt to steal my girlfriend," Seo snarls down at Maehara, casting fearful looks at Karma and Sugino. "You'd better be careful."

"Getting jealous and picking a fight?" Kaho speaks up as Seo and his posse walk away, looking down to Maehara with a superior smile, condescending written all over her face. "I never would have thought you had such an ugly heart," She hisses. "Never look at me again."

Okano digs her heel harder into Kaho's foot, before shoving her roughly toward Karma.

"My my, you're a lot braver now that punches aren't flying," Karma moves towards Kaho, who lets out a squeak and chases after Seo. "You call, Maehara. Shall I beat her up? I have no problems with beating up a girl."

"Time to intervene," Kataoka sighs, picking up Sugino's umbrella and hopping over the road divider, leading Nagisa, Kaede, Kurahashi and Hayami across the road (And Korosensei, of course).

"Don't waste your time on a bitch," Maehara replies simply, before finally sitting up, coughing heavily. "What I want to know is...did you really call Yuma? He's at his job, you know."

"Job?" Okano asks, passing Maehara a towel.

"Yeah," Maehara stares blankly at the towel for a while, before passing it back. "Don't worry about me, monkey."

A vein bulges in Okano's forehead. "Don't call me a monkey!"

"Aww man," Maehara stares up at the sky. "I can't believe you guys saw all that. How embarrassing." He sighs. "That board chairman is really somethin' else. Diffusing the situation with a few choice words, but keeping the discrimination...he's got perfect control over his students. If I didn't hate him so much, I might actually admire him."

Karma pokes Nagisa, who looks over at him. Holding up his phone, Karma smirks. Nagisa reads the words on the screen.

 _From Isogai:_

 _What?! Was it about Kaho?! I'm on the way!_

 _\- Isogai_

"More importantly, that girl..." Sugino growls.

"What a bitch," Hayami finishes, crossing her arms.

"Shall we get back at her for you?" Okano asks.

"Wait, doesn't our class have a bitch as well?" Kurahashi asks, tilting her head.

"Yes! Another bitch with big boobs!" Kaede exclaims, flailing her arms.

"But Bitch-sensei..." Nagisa thinks it over. "We know the reason why she's such a bitch, and we know she's nice too."

"Yeah, that girl, she isn't as sophisticated a bitch," Karma shrugs. "She's more of a slut. A whore. A-"

"Uh, I think I'll stop you guys there," Kataoka holds up her hands. "We're in a street. If we bring a bad name to the school, they'll be more upset at our class than normal, so please mind your language."

"Actually, I don't care if she's a bitch, or a slut, or a whore," Maehara sighs, wiping his face with his sleeve.

"Do you not?" Nagisa stares at Maehara in surprise. "But you liked her!"

"I mean, better I find out now, right?" Maehara brushes off his pants, making no effort to stand. "And besides, who you like can change. I wasn't _in love_ with her or anything, and we were still building up our connection while we were going out, so I'm not too heartbroken. A bitch deserves a bastard. A slut deserves a bastard. Etcetera. When your feelings for people your once liked fade, you might as well find someone new to devote yourself to. That's what I do."

"What sort of philosophy is that for a third year?" Okano mumbles, stowing her towel away.

"You wouldn't understand, monkey," Maehara waves his hand dismissively.

"Don't call me a monkey! I will kick you in the face, I swear!" Okano shrieks.

"But you saw her," Hayami says quietly. "She was in guilty excuse mode, then suddenly shifted to full-on attack mode. 'This guy is in class E. Everything I say, _I'm_ in the right!' was clearly her thoughts. Makes me wonder if any of us would be the same way if we hadn't ended up in the E Class."

Nagisa falls silent. She thinks about that a lot. Honestly, if she weren't in class E, would she treat the E Students the same way?

The tension in the air builds.

"We'll retaliate," Korosensei says suddenly. Nagisa turns to look at their teacher and-

"KOROSENSEI! YOUR HEAD IS GIANT!" She yelps. Korosensei's head has swelled to four or five times it's original size.

"For the unreasonable humiliation you face, we will retaliate," Korosensei repeats. "The truly powerless would only accept the situation, but all of your are strong, capable assassins, who can mark a target without being noticed, and without leaving proof."

"What are you suggesting?" Maehara asks uneasily.

"An eye for an eye. We humiliate them," Korosensei's face went green as he let out his signature giggle. "Nurufufufufufu..."

"Oh! Got a text!" Karma cackles, cutting of Korosensei's laugh. "' _I'm here, where are you?! - Isogai_ '"

"What?!" Maehara yelps.

"Hiroto!" The group of students (plus Korosensei) turn, seeing Isogai running down the pavement to them. The class rep is in a strange sort of waiters uniform, a white button down, a red tie and cravat around his neck, a black apron wrapped around his waist. He skids to a stop in front of the group, drenched in rain and sweat. Their argument goes something like this:

"What are you doing here? You know you can't skip-" Maehara begins.

"Was the fight about Kaho? I warned you that she was bad news and what-" Isogai talks loudly over the other boy.

"-work without reason. It's vital that you keep your job, so don't just leave to check on me-"

"-do you do? You stay with her - oh gosh, you're bleeding. Can you stand? Come on let's get you up and-"

"-as I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself-"

"-why can't you stand? Oh my goodness, do your legs hurt? Oh gosh, maybe-"

"-So you don't have to chase after me everywhere and-"

"-they're broken, I'm going to check-"

"-my legs are perfectly fine, I'm just a little tired - wait, get your hands away from me-"

"-so I'll have to check your leg, it might hurt, but-"

"DAMN IT IKEMEN, THAT HURTS!" Maehara yelps, cutting off the argument.

The two childhood friends exchange hard stares, before Maehara laughs first, snortling into his arm.

"Ikemen?" Isogai asks, smiling gently. "I'm sorry, Hiroto."

"Once again, I should've listened to you, Yuma," Maehara groans. "The world just _loveeesss_ making me disregard your opinion."

"Maybe you should listen next time?"

"Nah." Isogai and Maehara begin laughing again.

"All's well that ends well, then," Hayami nods wisely as Okano and Kaede give each other confused looks. Kataoka looks amused, with Kurahashi giggling behind.

Nagisa exchanges looks with Karma, beaming.

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"I'll take Hiroto home, sorry," Isogai helps his childhood friend up, wrapping an arm around the tawny boy's waist to hold him up. "Are you alright, Karma, Sugino?"

"Yeah," Sugino waves.

"Sorry for the trouble he caused," Isogai bows as much as he can while supporting Maehara. Turning, Isogai guides the other male. "Here, lean on me, step forward..."

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 ** _The process of vengeance:_**

Time frame: Shortly after Maehara has been disgraced.

 _Planning:_

"Any suggestions?" By default, Kataoka takes over, being the class rep. Rapping her knuckles against the board, the tall girl begins to write. "Here's the general theme, humiliation."

Karma walks to the board, grabs the chalk and begins writing. Most of the students can imagine the projection of devil horns and a tail behind him.

 _Assigning roles:_

"Who'd like to have the distraction parts?" Kataoka asks, tapping the board again.

"I can try to negotiate our way into a place near Kaho and Seo," Yada raises her hand.

"Yada for negotiation. Thank you, Yada," Kataoka grins at Yada.

"No problem, Megu-chan!"

"I can help!" Kurahashi says cheerfully, waving her arm in her enthusiasm.

"Yada and Kurahashi, then," Kataoka writes it down.

"I volunteer Sugino and Yukiko for the distraction!" Kaede leaps to her feets, waving her arm madly, almost slapping Nagisa and Sugino, who sit by her side.

"HAH?!" Sugino exclaims.

"Revenge!" Kaede laughs maniacally.

"Kayano," Kataoka turns a glare onto the green-haired girl.

"Sorry!" Kaede sits down.

"So Sugino, Kanzaki, do you have any problems with that?" Kataoka asks.

"I don't mind if Sugino doesn't," Kanzaki smiles calmly.

"Oh, then, err, I don't mind..." Sugino blushes.

"Well, we obviously need these..." Kataoka trails off, her eyes roaming over the formula Karma had scribbled on the board. "Wait, isn't this lethal?"

"When taken in large doses, yeah," Karma shrugs.

"No! No killing!" Kataoka erases the formula. "Okuda, do you think you could come up with a very strong laxative?"

"A laxative _only_?!" Karma protests.

"Yes! I think I can!" Manami exclaims.

"OK, chemistry expert: Okuda..."

"Who's the best marksmen?" Okajima ask.

"Chiba and Isogai..." Kataoka trails off. "Right, Isogai is taking care of Maehara. Next best will be Hayami. Chiba and Hayami, then."

"Thanks," Hayami says dryly.

"Don't take offence, Rinka-chan!" Kurahashi flings her arms around the green eyed girl, knocking her out of her seat.

"Here," Chiba helps her up, dusting off her uniform. The two stare at each other a bit, before Hayami scowls.

"I was being careful. Not my fault someone decided to knock me over," Hayami grumbles, something that makes no sense in the current context.

"Why don't we drench them as well?" The class looks up to see Isogai standing in the doorway, his usually amiable face set in a hard expression. He walks up to Kataoka, taking the chalk from her. "Here, Hiroto said that this was Kaho's favourite place. She never brought him there, but she was always staring at it longingly. I checked it out. There's only one toilet in it. The next nearest bathroom is a convenience store a hundred meters away. Pretty short dash, but there are many trees lining the way." Isogai maps out the path. "Kaho is scared of bugs. Trees are a whole nest for them. If we cut off the branches as they pass, the water that had accumulated on the leaves will cover them, along with leaves, bark and maybe bugs. I checked out the area and volunteered our services to a nice lady living next to the path. She wants her branches cut. Not to mention, there's a private building opposite the shop. It's four stories high, perfect vantage ground. Nagisa, you have good eyes. Would you play lookout? Sugaya, you're really good at art, would you help with the disguises."

There's a stunned silence.

"Whoa, you're surprisingly evil!" Karma cackles. "Come, let's plan their humiliation!"

"Hinata-chan, Isogai and Maehara are the best at knifework," Kurahashi taps her chin, then grins. "Think Maehara will be better by then, Isogai?"

Isogai shrugs, smiling apologetically. "I can't guarantee anything..."

(He can)

 ** _Lastly:_**

 _Plan...start!_

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 **Short author's note: I was listening to 'Run devil Run' the nightcore version on loop while writing the scene below...HAHAHAHHAAHAHA**

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Nagisa sits in the fourth storey of the private housing, watching the scene through binoculars. "Sugino and Kanzaki sure look cool..." Nagisa murmurs, watching two 'old' citizens walk past Kaho and Seo, bowing politely. Kaho and Seo both ignore the two 'seniors', laughing rumbiously. Little do they know that the two old-looking citizens are actually Yukiko and Sugino, disguised. "You did a good job, Sugaya."

"Yeah, I just revamped a few party masks," Sugaya expertly tosses his paint brushes. "Where's your boyfriend, then?"

"I don't know...he said he wanted to add something to the laxative Okuda made," Nagisa watches Kaho and Seo sip their coffee, smirking at each other.

Downstairs, Yada and Kurahashi are distracting the landlord with a precision that amazes Nagisa. They say things with just the right amount of sincerity that it isn't mistaken for flirtation or false compliments, saying just what he wants to hear, calling him young and pouring him tea, listening attentively to everything he says.

"Everyone ready?" Nagisa asks, looking away from her binoculars. Behind her, the knife team and the snipers stand. Hayami and Chiba are dressed in their school uniforms, safety glasses on as they casually hold machine guns with practise expertise. The three people in charge of knifework, however, are dressed completely in ponchos and raincoats, carefully camouflaged by Sugaya so that they would blend in with the tree.

"Okuda-san?" Korosensei calls, stepping into the room. "Do you have the laxative-"

"No, stop, Karma-kun! We can't put that in!" Manami squeals loudly from outside the room.

"Shhh!" Everyone whispers.

Nagisa sighs. Knowing Karma, it was something strange.

"Will poison ivy not be feasible with the laxative?" Karma asks.

"Karma!" Nagisa calls.

"What?" Karma shouts.

"No."

"I'm dosing the laxative in it. They'll have an allergic reaction-"

"Kar-maaaa!" Nagisa calls again, warningly.

"Fine." Karma and Manami enter the room, Karma holding a plastic baggie with poison ivy inside and Okuda clutching a flask. "But I foresaw this. Chiba, Hayami, put this into your guns and shoot it in their direction first." He holds out two small BB pellets.

"Karma, what are you-" Karma places a hand over Nagisa mouth.

"Shhh, let it happen."

Chiba and Hayami exchange looks, seeming to have a silent conversation.

"Why not," Chiba accepts the pellets, loading it into her gun, Hayami mimicking his movements.

The two snipers take their stances, aiming and shooting.

There's no change in Seo and Kaho.

"Karma...?" Chiba's tone is worried.

"It takes time," Karma grins. "Now send them the thing."

Nagisa nods slowly, sending a text to Sugino.

Looking back through her binoculars, Nagisa watches Yukiko stand. Kaho and Seo begin to scratch themselves a little, adjusting their uniforms.

"Can anyone here read lips?" Maehara asks suddenly. "I want a play-by-play of what's happening down there."

"Sensei has very good hearing," Korosensei volunteers, clearing his throat. After a pause, he speaks again. "'Dear, do you think there is a bathroom here?' Kanzaki-san says. Sugino-kun's breathing has increased in pace. 'Oh, I did see a convenience store about a hundred meters back...' 'H-Hey, there's no need to overexert yourself,' Sugino-kun says, his voice is very shaky, nurufufufufufufu~ Oh, right, Sugino-kun is also saying. 'Just because we are seated outside does not mean that we aren't customers. Just use the bathroom there, honey.' Nurufufufufufufufufufu, sensei can sense a spike in his temperature and heart rate. How amusing. Kanzaki-san is very calm. As you can see, she's entering the bathroom. 'How awful,' Kaho-san is laughing. 'Senility is awful! I definitely never want to end up like _them_!' Seo-kun is making a strange noise...Knife Team, depart now!"

" _Now?!_ " Okano and Maehara complain.

"Hiroto, Okano," Isogai reminds them. "We have important things to take care of."

"Ugh..." Maehara grudgingly follows after the dark haired ikemen...err, that is, class rep.

Chiba and Hayami get into position, aiming their guns.

Sugino knocks over a collection of bowls and cups.

"Oh dear, Sugino-kun is quite upset at Kaho-san and Seo-kun for insulting Kazaki-san, nurufufufufu. He seems pleased to be letting out his anger on something. Kaho-san and Seo-kun are both watching Sugino-kun now."

"Shoot!" Nagisa yells.

Instantly, Chiba and Hayami squeeze the trigger and Nagisa watches as the two bullets whiz through the air, landing into the cups of coffee.

"Direct hit!" Chiba exclaims, smiling widely.

"However, compared to hitting a target at Mach 20, this is an overly simple task," Hayami says instead, causing everyone else in the room to exchange awkward looks. _How was that simple?_

"Nice!" Nagisa offers anyway, because praise is always good.

"'Enough already!' Kaho-san is slamming her hands on the table. 'Quit it with the racket, you senile old fart!' Seo-kun is shouting. How rude. 'Ah, my apologies,' Sugino-kun says, his lips are twitching a lot. Can you see it, Nagisa-san?"

"Yes."

"'As soon as my _wife_ returns from the restroom, we will leave,' Sugino-kun says, his voice is going very mushy. Thinking of Kanzaki-san as his wife seems to have cheered him up," Korosensei swoons, scribbling something down in his notebook. "Oh,

"That's sweet, I suppose," Hayami nods.

"Very~!" Manami says cheerfully.

"'Sheesh, they sure have some low grade customers today,' Seo-kun says, while drinking his coffee in a most uncivilised manner, might I add. 'Sorry, it's usually a pretty smart crowd in here,' Kaho says, slurping her coffee. How rude," Korosensei tsks, shaking his head. "Nurufufufu, now everything else is left to everyone on the ground."

Nagisa smiles. "They keep scratching."

"Yeah, I grounded poison ivy into pills," Karma explains.

"Oh, they're beginning to feel the effects of the laxative!" Manami exclaims.

There's a short brawl for the binoculars, before everyone realises that they can see Kaho and Seo just fine.

"Mimura is recording this, right?" Manami asks.

"Yeah, his brother's biking him around with a camera," Sugaya nods.

"Biking?" Korosensei suddenly looks panicked. "Isn't that dangerous?!"

"He's attached to the bike by a cart..." Sugaya explains, looking exasperated. "We can watch this whole thing later. Look, there's Mimura!" Nagisa turns her binoculars to the ground below, searching. Soon, she finds it. A teenager on a bike, with a slightly younger teenager sitting in a cramped cart, holding a camera. _Mimura-kun..._

"I hope Yukiko's helping me fold cranes!" Kaede suddenly says, surprising everyone. "I gave her some origami paper and asked her to help out. I need to fold a thousand for a volunteering project!"

"Err..." Nagisa looks away. Soon, she sees Seo and Kaho dashing out of the shop, racing down the path, umbrellas out as they grab their stomaches. Mimura and his brother give chase, keeping pace with the two junior high students.

As she watches, four or five large branches go crashing down on Seo and Kaho.

"LOL!" Okajima cackles loudly.

"Did you just _say_ 'Lol'?" Manami gapes at Okajima.

"I should try that in one of my pranks," Karma says contemplatively, ignoring Manami.

"If you want," Nagisa watches Seo and Kaho with her binoculars. "It is pretty funny, though."

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"Well, that was refreshing, wasn't it?" Korosensei beams, standing in a poncho under an umbrella. Around him, the Class E students all pat Maehara on the back, laughing and congradulating it. "Making a mad dash for the bathroom while looking dishevelled will be extremely humiliating for those two."

"Can you burn that into a CD?" Sugaya asks Mimura, pointing at his camera.

"Of course," Mimura grins. "Who do you think I am?"

"Erm..." Marhara clears his throat, attracting the attention of everyone. "I guess...thanks for doing this for me today, everyone."

"What's wrong, Maehara-kun? After this, do you still think of yourself as weak?" Korosensei asks.

"No," Maehara grins widely. "At first glance, none of us are much. Except the Ikemen." He cuts his eyes over to Isogai, who sighs.

"I'm not an Ikemen, Hiroto..."

"But you all have a second blade you can rely on. A blade I don't have..." Maehara sighs just as large as Isogai did.

"That's just how things are," Korosensei pats Maehara on the back, smiling widely. "Strength and weakness can't be determined by sight alone. I'm glad you have learnt that."

"Yeah..." Maehara stays still for a bit, his hair falling to cover his expression. There's a moment of peace before he looks at the class again and beams. "Well, I gotta go! I've got a dinner date with a girl from another school-"

"No, no you don't," Isogai narrows his eyes.

"Sorry, Yuma, you can start mothering me tomorrow! I swear!" Maehara waves, running away.

"Maehara Hiroto, you get back here!" Isogai shouts, giving chase.

"Whoa, that's the first time I've seen him semi-upset," Kaede observes.

Nagisa smiles.

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 **It's twelve where I live.**

 **I finally finished it...**

 **But yeah, I wasn't kidding. My computer really got stolen for a while, so yeah. I'm most comfortable on this, so it felt weird borrowing my sister's, so yep...**

 **Hope you understood that :P**

 **ANNOUNCEMENT:**

 **I've decided to start up a poll ^^ for ships in this fic, it's on my profile now. It's too see what pairings will be in this, because I don't want to just pick on my own.**

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 **Now, review replies~**

 _ **Xenocanaan:** Actually...dollhouse was written on a whim. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but when I read back on it, it was pretty bad -_- AND I MADE MYSELF SAD! WHAT IS UP WITH ME (sorry) Thank you though ^^ Hope you enjoyed this, and thank you for the praise!_

 ** _Amaya Kuruta:_** _Why are you happy I updated then :? I hope i helped cheer you up or something ^^ We all ship Karma and Nagsia, yep XD The bruises aren't, no :( They're from her mom :/ HAHAHAHA I'll ignore that, lolol :D Why can't you publish your own story? Ah, sorry the update took so long :O Yay, hug! Love you too, lol_

 ** _SunsetsN'ShadowsN'Switchblades:_** _(Did I get your username right?) Yeah...still have no idea why I wrote dollhouse..._

 ** _123 Let's Go:_** _Yessss! I hope you liked the beginning part of this chapter, then! ^^_

 ** _Aipom4:_** _Yeah...the last scene was pretty O.o_

 ** _Shiranai Atsune:_** _Yay! You're back ^^ Thank you for the reviews, XD Yeah, about_ time _the boys found out! They're so blur! Aww man, everyone really doesn't like dollhouse :O Well, it was pretty sad._

 ** _Danget the Critic:_** _Yay! A bunny XD I love bunnies, actually, I love all cute things. Yeah, last chapter I didn't have much inspiration at all :O So hence, the plain chapter...I hope this was better ^^ I wanted to have my fun with it, but I kinda...well I had to reel myself in ^^ Takebayashi's first words never cease to amuse me! Especially since Isogai and Kimura immediately said '_ Those are your first words?' _and_ 'you're sure, Takebayashi?! _' So that really made me laugh. I hoped you liked this better!_

 _ **OneWhoCharms:** Yay! Ritsu ^^ Ritsu is my third or fourth favourite character, and she gets a lot of screentime, too! Yeah, I wanted to do a scene on Nagisa's mom in here...but...well, not good for my tear glands._

 ** _HappyGuy:_** _Hope the beginning of this chapter made up for it ^^_

 ** _Rose Again D:_** _YES THEY ARE! I WAS SO SURPRISED! What did Karma and Nagisa bet...*smirks* Extras #1, check it out! Yeah, everyone overlocked Chiba :( Poor guy!_

 ** _Marshmallow:_** _I'm very sorry! *bows* Gomenasai! Sumimasen! Warui! I gave my best to finish this by the next applicable deadline...tuesday, namely. I'm sorry :( Thanks, haha! The civil war made me said, BUT THEN I SAW THE SCENE WHEN KARMA GAVE UP AND I THOUGHT THEY WERE HUGGING. I felt really happy. Then they weren't actually hugging, it was just a trick of the animators and I felt really sad :( I SAW THE SCENE AND GOT FALSE HOPES I AM GOING TO FIX THAT WHEN I REACH THAT CHAPTER! I swear._

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 _Extra #1_

 _The punishment for the bet_

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"I lost, so now I owe you a favour?" Karma's brow twitches slightly. Although he hated to admit it, Nagisa had won the bet. Gah.

"Lost what?" Nagisa tilts her head in confusion, her brows knitted.

"We bet on Ritsu, remember?" Karma asks.

"Oh," Nagisa's eyes brighten. "I remember now! I want you to come to my house tomorrow, then!"

"Hah?" Karma stares blankly at Nagisa.

"Through the front door, Mother will be in Kyoto for a business trip," Nagisa says cheerfully. "So come over! I'll have everything prepared."

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It had been so long since Karma used Nagisa's front door, he preferred entering from the window in her room, that he actually had gotten lost. Not that he'd admit it. After knocking on two wrong doors, Karma had gone and counted all the windows from outside the building, finally tracking down Nagisa's apartment. He had been two floors off in the beginning.

Karma had barely knocked once before Nagisa flings open the door, beaming. "Karma, cook something for me!"

Karma pauses, his fist still stupidly in the air, poised for knocking. "What?"

"Could you cook something for me?" Nagisa pauses, then smiles widely. She's changed out of her school uniform, in a pretty pastel green frock that isn't overbearing (and also a gift from Karma. Man, he has good taste, it looks nice on her) her hair falling down her back in nice ringlets.

"Why?" He's still taking it all in, before it process itself in his brain.

Nagisa doesn't really dress up, unless it's for him, or unless that woman forces her into something disgusting. Since that woman is in Kyoto...it can't be her. Besides, Nagisa also mentioned...

"Is your father coming tonight?" Karma asks, arching a brow.

"Yes," Nagisa pulls him into the house, locking the door behind them. As he wonders further into the house, he finds himself wonder why, after all the years of sneaking in through Nagisa's bedroom window, he never bothered to explore everywhere else. The apartment is sleek, with white everywhere. It would be nice, but Karma sees the small signs in the living room and the corridors. Potted plants and furniture are arranged carefully over small stains and dents in the walls. A large square of cloth covers the couch, but Karma can see the dust settled on top of it. "I had hoped that mother would be home when he did, but alas..."

"You need help," Karma sums up.

"No, I'll clean the house!" Nagisa immediately says, shaking her head emphatically. "You just cook-" As if he's going to let her dirty her current attire. Grinning, Karma picks Nagisa up, carrying her bridal style. "Karma!" She yelps, clutching his shoulder.

"View from up here," Karma replies with, setting her down in the corridor to her room. "There you go-"

"You're not doing everything on your own," Nagisa pouts, folding her arms.

"But you're too pretty to be doing it on _your_ own," Karma answers, mimicking her actions.

The two of them have a mini stare off, glaring at each other.

"You sit on the couch and just look pretty, OK?" Karma lifts Nagisa again, kicking the couch cover to one side as he sets Nagisa on it. "Let me handle everything today. As part of your favour."

"Thank you, Karma," Nagisa consents, much to his surprise. She sits on the couch, her back straight as she smiles.

He returns the smile, beginning his work.

First, he should sweep the floor.

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As he finishes up the first task and moves on to mopping, Nagisa speaks up from the couch.

"Karma, can I tell you a secret?" Nagisa asks.

"Hmm?" Karma wipes his brow. Thank goodness he's in his casual clothes and not something nice, judging from how much he's sweating now. "Go ahead."

Nagisa stands and moves over to him, smiling brightly. She cups her hands around her mouth, gesturing for Karma to lean down.

"What's the secret?" Karma whispers, standing the mop against wall as he leans down.

"I love you."


	11. Chapter 11

**Well...**

 **No excuses.**

 **(Mostly)**

 **Because I pushed all my writing to the last day and my computer (a chromebook, edxis, would not recommend, seriously) was acting up as usual soooooooooooooooooooo (as a matter of fact it's acting up now. Dangit chromebook!)**

 **Yep.**

 **On that note, the poll! Please vote in the poll XD It'll be closing on 22nd november (I forgot to mention that the last time)**

 **Warning** **: A _lot_ of English in here XD English will be put between the two "" and italicised, just for reference's sake ^^**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own assassination classroom, but I own a box of cookies that taste amazing!**

 **hope you enjoy! (I'll try to get the next chapter out on time)**

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 _Extras #1:_

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 _Ding-dong_

Instinctively, Nagisa turns her head away from the frying pan in front of her to look to the door when-

" _Shortcaku_ , eyes on the food!" Karma shouts, expertly working on two sauces while boiling pasta and making white sauce.

"Ah!" Nagisa exclaims, snapping her head back to the frying pan as she mixes the chicken with the strange sauce. "Karma, the door!"

"UGH," Karma groans, stirring the contents of the two saucepans once more before putting a lid on them, leaving them to simmer. He turns off the fire for the pan containing the white sauce and the saucepan boiling pasta before he runs his fingers through his hair, going to the door.

 _Why are they frantically cooking like this?_ , one might ask. Well, after Karma had changed into his nicer clothes, the pair had realised something: They hadn't started on dinner.

Hence, the sudden scramble to make food.

"Karma, who's it?!" Nagisa calls.

"Your father," Karma shouts back.

Nagisa lets of a gasp, turning the stove fire off and setting down the frying pan. Elated, she dashes into the living room, seeing Karma smoothly leading her father to the dining area.

"Papa!" Nagisa exclaims, beaming.

"Hello, Nagisa," Her father greets, staring at Karma more than Nagisa. "Who's this?"

Karma and Nagisa exchange looks.

"Eh, sit down. We're in the middle of making dinner," Karma offers, returning to the kitchen.

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Forty minutes later, there's a plate of doria, spaghetti with a choice of bolognese or carbonara sauce and fried rice with stir fry and lemon chicken.

"Eat up," Karma invites, digging into the plate of doria.

Nagisa's father sits opposite the table from both Karma and Nagisa, still looking mildly mistified.

"Er, alright," He takes some fried rice hesitantly, and some lemon chicken. "Who's this, Nagisa?"

"My boyfriend," Nagisa answers, helping herself to some spaghetti carbonara and stir fry. "Karma-kun. You remember him?"

"The violent one with the delinquent friends, yes," Nagisa father murmurs.

"I heard that, and yes, that'll be me," Karma jabs his chopsticks at Nagisa's father. "What'cha gonna do about it?"

"Nothing," Nagisa's father takes some carbonara sauce, drowning his fried rice in it. "Matters of the heart are Nagisa's playing field. I have no right to intrude on them, though I assume you're better behaved now?"

Karma taps his chin, pretending to be deep in thought. "Well, I am trying to kill my teach -" Nagisa stuffs a spoonful of carbonara spaghetti, but Karma tries to speak around the food regardless. "- Oor, wiff da hal or th-"

"He's being idiotic," Nagisa simply says, leaving Karma to struggle out words with noodles in his mouth.

"I see," Nodding, Nagisa's father eats the strange concoction of carbonara sauce, lemon chicken, fried rice and tomato sauce. "Actually, can I ask where you got your phone from? When I...left, you didn't have one, and your mother had no plans for one."

"Hmm..." Shrugging non-committedly, Nagisa takes a spoonful of her father's food mix. "Karma bought it for me, for new years-"

"Because her mother kept picking up the house phone," Karma finally swallows the spaghetti. "It was annoying."

"Erm," Nagisa and her father exchange awkward smiles. "Yeah, so Karma got me one, it's quite cool," Taking out her phone, Nagisa shows her father everything, smiling as she shows of it's capabilities. "It's one of Karma's old ones, so it has a lot of little customized features."

"Since I'm a genius and all," Karma boasts, giving Nagisa's father's food a skeptical glance. "Oh, I remember there was something I wanted to ask you," With his voice going serious, Karma narrows his eyes slightly.

"Ah, I, too, have something to ask you," Nagisa's father frowns.

"By all means, go first," Karma grins.

"Karma," Nagisa chides softly, gently bumping her shoulder against his.

"Alright then. When did you and Nagisa get together?"

"My birthday!" Karma chirps, while Nagisa flushes brightly.

"How?"

Nagisa's face grows even redder, while Karma's smile widens. "Well you see, Nagisa and I go way back and-"

"SO, WHAT WAS THE QUESTION YOU WANTED TO ASK PAPA, KARMA?" Nagisa all but shouts.

"Ah, right," Resting his chin on his palm, Karma glares at Nagisa's father. "See, I want to know just _how_ much you know about that woman."

"...By that I presume you mean Hiromi?" When he receives a nods of consent, the older man sighs. "I know enough to try to get Nagisa under my custody. Unfortunately she refused."

"Eh?" Karma turns to look at Nagisa, who covers her face with her hands. She had never told Karma this. "Why?"

"I'll tell you another day..." She mumbles through her fingers.

Karma bristles, then smirks. "Alright, here's how Nagisa and I got together..."

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 _Chapter 11:_

 _The English Language_

 ** _OR_**

 _L and R time!_

 ** _AND_**

 _Movie time!_

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"Alright, you brats! Get back to your seats, dig your ears and sit the hell up!" Marching into class, Bitch-sensei tosses her hair over her shoulder, snapping her fingers.

As Nagisa scrambles for her seat, she stares in amazement as five well-built men enter, all carrying bulky items. Her eyes widen even more when Bitch-sensei seems to _shrink_ before them, the blonde woman teasing her hair and applying lightning quick make up so that she looks delicate and smaller. She bats her now-overly-long lashes at the men, before asking them in a small voice. "I'm really sorry to bother you all...but I really needed the help," Bitch-sensei braces her hand against the wall, her other hovered over her bosom as she sighs. "I'm really weak...thank you all very much..." As a final touch, Nagisa sees Bitch-sensei adjust her shirt to let even more cleavage out and wobbling in front of the men.

"No problem," The men chorus, beginning to flush.

"Oh thank you so much!" Bitch-sensei lets out a breathy laugh, tottering over to the men and kissing them all on the cheeks. "I can't wait to see how it'll turn out!"

Only then does Nagisa realise that Bitch-sensei had been speaking in English, as had the men, who instantly begin their...work? Whatever the case, they are really fast, and within ten minutes, there's a visualizer hanging from the ceiling.

"Oh, what a great job you've done!" Bitch-sensei clasps her hands together, a light pink dusting her cheeks.

This carries on for another two or three minutes before Bitch-sensei sends away the men with a wave, blowing them kisses.

When they leave, the angelic smile slips off her face. "How many of you could follow all of that?"

The class exchanges looks.

Karma raises his hand in a lazy fashion.

Nagisa slowly lifts hers, not high enough to gather much attention. Surprisingly, Kaede's hand shoots right up, as does Nakamura's.

"Good then," Bitch-sensei clicks something in her hand and the visualizer clicks on. "I'm assuming the four of you are excellent in the English language, but just _knowing_ the language isn't enough. We're going to watch this short scene from sex and the city."

"From _what_?!" Mimura yelps.

"It's like M18!" Maehara protests.

"All the girls have such big breasts in there!" Okajima drools.

Bitch-sensei ignores them and clicks the something again. On the scene, two blonde ladies appear, speaking English in a fast pace way that makes little sense.

"See? None of the vocabulary used in Samantha and Carrie's sex talk is difficult. Who managed to understand all the words in it?" Bitch-sensei switches the visualiser off.

Karma's and Nakamura's hands go up instantly.

Nagisa slowly lifts hers, barely high enough to be considered as up.

"You need specific everyday conversational skills to make it far in life. I'm sure that all of you have that one friend who says nothing _but_ 'like, _soooo_ awesome (maji sugei)'. One way to say the 'maji' that you use in Japanese is ' _Really_ ' in english. Kimura, try saying ' _Really'_."

" _L-Lia-ree_ ," Kimura stammers out.

"Aaaaaaaaaa _nd_ no. You're getting the L and the R all mixed up," Bitch-sensei makes a cross with her hands, dragging out the 'a' of and. "The Japanese tend to have a hard time differentiating the two. There's always some sort of pronunciation error getting in the way when you learn other languages. People can understand what you're saying, but it'll sound all wrong. For example, the Koreans pronounce 'itsumademo' as 'ichumademo'. Karma, impress me."

" _Really,_ " Karma delivers.

"Excellent. However, your 'E' was a bit off," Bitch-sensei points at Nakamura. "Nakamura."

" _Rially,_ " Nakamura tries.

"Karma's was better," Bitch-sensei taps the board. "Sugino?"

"L-Liallee."

"Terrible. Don't run from your weaknesses! Overcome them. From now on, I will be checking your pronunciation regularly. So if you screw up your 'L's and 'R's," Bitch-sensei brings her finger up to point at her glossy pink lips. "I'll embarrass you with a french kiss in public."

Nagisa shudders.

"Fuwa! Say 'Problem'!" Bitch-sensei suddenly whirls on Fuwa, making the class jump.

" _P-Plobemu(Problem)_..." Fuwa tries.

"No way. Nagisa!" Bitch-sensei spins on her heel, jabbing a finger at Nagisa. "Say it!"

"E-Eh?" Nagisa jumps, then inhales softly. " _Problem_."

"Perfect pronunciation. With that, class is over."

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"Man, Bitch-sensei's lessons are so raunchy!" Sugino says cheerfully as he, Nagisa, Kaede and Karma walk out of the building. "And there are so many dirty jokes too. That's not the kinda scene that should be in a junior high classroom. Not to mention the dramas she screens...not appropriate for our age, ya know?"

"Good work today, Sugino," Yukiko waves at the four of them as she walks past with Kataoka.

"T-Thanks, Kanzaki!" Sugino exclaims.

"Her lessons aren't boring, I'll give her that," Karma voices, sounding bemused.

"Well, it makes things easier to understand," Nagisa smiles. "Plus, I've heard that using foreign dramas is a good teaching method. Infiltration is definitely her speciality, I'm seriously never tired of hearing about her past experiences too. Remember the time she used Yada-san as a character for her story?"

"YES!" Kaede exclaims, laughing. "She just grabbed her and ballroom dipped her and said 'So he held me like this and said: You're damn hot' and Yada looked so flustered!"

"Yeah," Sugino agrees. "It's just..."

"Just?" Nagisa prompts.

"Whether you're right or not, she'll still french you in front of the whole class," Sugino groans.

"Does she?" Kaede asks, sounding confused.

"I forget," Nagisa shrugs.

"Because the two of you are _always_ right. And she'll never kiss either of you, for some reason. Like, seriously, how," Sugino sighs. "This guy too," He casts a jealous look at Karma. "Your English is just so..."

" _Fantastic? Amazing? Awe-inspiring?_ " Karma chortles when Sugino's face contorts into an emotions of pure horror. "No? I think I'm pretty fluent."

"Karma, say 'fluent'," Nagisa instructs.

" _Fururuen_."

" _Fluent_."

" _Flururen_."

" _Fluent_."

" _Fururen_."

"Are you even trying, Karma?" Nagisa sighs, playing with her ponytail.

"Of course you have to pick the one word I absolutely suck at pronouncing, Nagisa-chan," Karma complains.

"Revenge," Kaede chirps.

"For what?" Sugino brings his palm to his forehead.

"Dunno," Tapping her chin, Kaede tries to come up with a reason.

"No reason, really," Nagisa sighs in exasperation. "Can we get back on topic? About Bitch-sensei-"

Abruptly, Karma grabs Nagisa by her waist, swinging her around so that she's facing him and he bends down, kissing her.

"PICTURE!" Nakamura shouts, probably aiming her phone at them.

Flushing, Nagisa fumbles for some sort of grip on Karma, so that she can push him away when he suddenly pulls away slightly, grinning.

" _Did you like that, Nagisa-chan?_ " He asks in English, as though they are having an everyday conversation. " _I could do it again_."

Nagisa groans, pushing at his chest half-heartedly. It isn't an unpleasant feeling, that's for sure. "We're in public." She says seriously.

"Don't care," Karma captures her lips again, his arms tightening in such a way around her that Nagisa _knows_ he's going to try deepening the kiss.

Turning her head, Nagisa manages to stop Karma, who seems more than happy to press butterfly kisses on her cheeks and neck. "Later, later," She mumbles, trying to push him away. "Not now..."

With a dramatic sigh, Karma kisses her cheek once more before he releases her. "Fineeeeeeee..."

When Nagisa resumes walking again, most of her class, departing from the building, seem flustered and a little uncomfortable as they brisk walk past Karma and Nagisa. All Karma's fault, Nagisa thinks crossly as Sugino and Kaede trade awkward looks.

"Use protection kids!" Nakamura shouts after her.

"Nakamura-san!" Nagisa blushes a bright red. "We're fourteen! Barely!

"Duly noted!" Karma calls back, taking Nagisa's hand.

"ON THAT NOTE, BITCH-SENSEI, MAKE SURE NOT TO FLIRT TOO MUCH!" Nakamura hollers. "PLAYING AROUND WITH TOO MANY MEN WILL ONLY-"

"SHUT UP, BRAT!" Bitch-sensei yells back.

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"Can we continue now?" Karma whispers when he and Nagisa are on the train.

Nagisa gives him what she hopes is a vexed expression.

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The next day, there's a strange shift in the air. Nagisa feels it as soon as she steps into the classroom, the tension too thick to cut with a knife.

"What's going on?" She asks Sugino softly.

"Dunno," Sugino points at the door of their classroom, where an aged man in a heavy trench coat stands, hands in his pockets. His skin is a strange yellowish colour, like he is malnourished and the lines around his small red eyes make him look perpetually squinting. His lips are pulled down into a permanent frown. "That old man has been here since Kataoka came to set up."

"'Scuse, mister," Karma says cheerfully as he stands at the doorway, hands in his pants pockets. "I kinda need to go in?"

"You can walk around me, can't you?" The old man speaks, his voice low and gravelly.

"Can't," Karma replies with simply.

" _Karma_ ," Nagisa groans, moving to the doorway of the classroom. "Apologies, sir," Bowing to the old man, Nagisa subtly glares at Karma through her lashes. "He can be rude."

"Don't bow to him," Karma snaps.

Nagisa keeps her head low.

"It's fine. You're lucky your girlfriend has manners," The old man removes his hand from his pocket, rapping his knuckles against the classroom door. "I have come to tell you that Irina Jelavic will not be teaching any classes today. Stay out of her way. That is all." Turning, the man starts to leave the classroom when Karma blocks his way.

"No way, who are you?" Karma folds his arms.

"Karma," Nagisa hisses, before she bows to the old man again. "I'm very sorry..."

"You have a lot of spunk," The old man observes, facing Karma. "It will serve you well in the future, if it doesn't get you killed first."

"No duh," Karma smiles, a casual one that shows nothing about what he might say next. "But who are you?"

"Lovro. Is that good enough for you?" Karma steps aside and the old man starts to walk out, only to stop when Yada lets out a huge gasp.

"Lovro?" Yada whispers.

"Who's that?" Nagisa asks.

"No idea," Kaede replies, surprising Nagisa, who hadn't noticed her enter.

"Bitch-sensei's father figure!" Yada exclaims.

"In a sense, I suppose so," Lovro says, sounding a little bit prideful. "I suppose I will be seeing you all a lot."

The class watches Lovro walk away.

"What's going on, man?" Okajima groans, dumping his bag on his seat. "Do you know what's going on Isogai, Kataoka?"

The two class reps exchange looks. "No..." Isogai says hesitantly.

"Oh!" Maehara suddenly exclaims, holding up an old model of a phone. "I forgot! Yuma, you got an email from Karasuma-sensei! It said 'there may be some strange events happening tomorrow, but please do your best to lead the class.' It was also CC'd to Kataoka."

"Why didn't you tell me, Hiroto?" Isogai rubs the back of his head, taking the old phone from Maehara.

"Cause you were asleep."

"You could've have woken me," Isogai sighs in exasperation.

"I didn't want to?" Maehara tilts his head, like he isn't quite sure why he didn't.

"So what _is_ going on?" Mimura cuts into their conversation, holding his hands up in a 'time out' gesture.

"I have no idea," Kataoka pulls out her phone, briskly searching through her email. "Nothing more is said than that."

"I guess we'll find out," Karma laughs. "Well, at the very least, it'll be interesting."

"Very interesting," Yukiko agrees, scratching her cheekbone a little awkwardly.

"In what way, though?" Nagisa asks. Knowing Karma, his definition of interesting is probably what most people will find terrible.

"With someone in the hospital?" Kaede prompts.

"Maybe." Karma simply smirks.

The door slides open, Korosensei entering, symbolising the first class of the day.

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It's PE when it first happens.

"There has been a wager set over my mock assassination," Karasuma warns them ahead of time, the students sitting around him in a circle in the courtyard. "So expect some slight disruptions over the course of today though your classes should remain unaffected. Carry on as you would normally."

"Poor Karasuma-sensei," Nagisa hears Kurahashi whisper, and can't blame her, since she feels the same way. Karasuma really has to deal with a lot. _I wonder if_ _Karasuma-sensei will ever get a break..._ Nagisa pulls at her shirt. Since he had the Ritsu incident to deal with, coupled with the entire Korosensei thing...

"Karasuma~sensei~ !" A sickly sweet voice calls.

"Who's that?" Nagisa hears Nakamura whisper to Fuwa.

When she turns to the direction of the voice, Nagisa's surprised to see _Bitch-sensei_ running towards them, a thermos in her hand and a giant beam on her face.

"Does that lady have no shame?" Karma murmurs into Nagisa's ear.

"I suppose not," Nagisa turns and smiles at him, letting out a squeak when he kisses her briefly. "But neither do you," She grumbles, not really _that_ angry.

"Oh Karasuma~sensei!" Bitch-sensei stops near Karasuma, still beaming. "Good work today! You must be thirsty! Have something cool to drink!"

"She's very obvious," Kaede sighs.

"There's probably something in it," Nagisa agrees, scratching her cheek.

"Come on, knock it right back! It's good!" Bitch-sensei weedles.

"Probably muscle restraint," Karasuma says randomly, as though in the middle of a conversation. Bitch-senesi falters, freezing. "She'll immobilize me and stab me at her own leisure. Look, I don't intend for you to come close enough to even give it to me."

"Look, I'll just leave it here," Slowly, Bitch-sensei sets the thermos on the ground. Before she falls on her face, so obviously orchestrated that Nagisa wonders what on _earth_ she's thinking. "Owwie! Give me a piggyback ride, Karasuma, a piggyback ride!"

"Absolutely not," Karasuma turns his back on the blonde teacher, starting to walk away. Nagisa's about to turn her attention away when she sees some movement from Bitch-sensei. Bitch-sensei's eyes narrow and Nagisa barely registers that before a green object flies from Bitch-sensei's direction to Karasuma.

Nagisa notices Karasuma's eyes widen before he ducks, the green knife narrowly missing him, spinning around to face the assassin, but Bitch-sensei is faster, leaping to her feet, a gun aimed at Karasuma, her murderous intent obvious. She fires rapidly, pointing the barrel at Karasuma, who hits the floor and rolls towards the blonde woman. Somehow, Karasuma manages to kick the gun out of Bitch-sensei's grip, but she's quick to recover, drawing out two more knives from her sleeves and she slashes at him in a wide arc that is almost sure to miss. It's such an obvious distraction, but Nagisa isn't sure from where the next attack might come from. Surprisingly, Bitch-sensei aims a roundhouse kick at Karasuma, a loud ripping sound echoing around the courtyard. However, Karasuma grabs Bitch-sensei's foot, simultaneously yanking on it while standing and making her lose her balance, causing her to fall back onto her back, panting heavily.

For a long moment, all that can be heard is Bitch-sensei's panting and Karasuma's heavy breathing.

"I can see her underwear!" Okajima suddenly shouts, blood spurting from his nose.

"Eww!" Yada exclaims, moving away from Okajima.

Karasuma releases Bitch-sensei's leg, and Nagisa sees the long tear along the side of her tight micro-mini skirt.

"Bitch-sensei," Kurahashi rises, rushing to the side of their fallen teacher.

"Bitch-sensei!" Yadaa joins Kurahashi, the two girls fawning over Bitch-sensei. "Are you alright? Can you walk? That was so cool!"

"Let's carry on with PE," Karasuma ignores the trio of girls, even as Kurahashi and Yada lift Bitch-sensei up, bringing her towards the campus.

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"Down you go, Bitch-sensei," Yada Touka murmurs, setting Bitch-sensei on the single bed in the infirmary. She feels a little strange, bringing a twenty-year old woman to an infirmary. Kurahashi Hinano helps Bitch-sensei sit down.

"Are you OK?" Hinano asks, patting Bitch-sensei's hair. "Wow, how's your hair so nice even after you did all that?"

"I'm fine," Bitch-sensei rolls her shoulders. " _Shit_. I thought I had it. I have to plan again...Lovro can easily take down Karasuma with his skill...I have to-" Her blue-green eyes are frantic, and Bitch-sensei twitches, seeing frenzied.

"Bitch-sensei, if it makes you feel better, you were really cool!" Touka says honestly, setting a hand on Bitch-sensei's shoulder, cutting the older woman off. _She needs some reassurance_ , Touka thinks. "You acted very weak and stupid, then you pulled out your back up plan. It was very educational to watch! Really! Maybe you're very good at acting weak and idiotic and attacking. That's how assassins do it right? And you don't even need to hide your bloodlust, because Karasuma-sensei expects it! If you incorporate that in some cunning plan, it'd be twice as good!" Realising that she's implying that what Bitch-sensei did isn't enough, Touka immediately rushes to cover up her slip of the tongue. "Not to say that what you did just now wasn't any good! Wasn't it cool, Hinano-chan?"

"Very!" Hinano continues to pat Bitch-sensei's head.

"Yada...Kurahashi..." Staring at them with shocked eyes, Bitch-sensei suddenly tears up. "How nice of you, brats!"

"You really are amazing, Bitch-sensei," Hinano chirps. "You have to teach us how to do stuff like that!"

Touka nods. "Maybe some more stuff. Your way of working seems like the most beneficial path to take if I want to be an entrepreneur or business woman. Hinano-chan and I tried them out the other day, to enact revenge on Kaho-chan."

"How'd it go?" Bitch-sensei asks, seeming calmer.

Touka looks at Hinano, who smiles. It went pretty darn well, if she would say so herself. "We were successful!"

"That's great," Bitch-sensei lies back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. "You two are my star pupils...I think I'll teach you some more negotiation skills, and some seduction ones."

Touka and Hinano exchange excited looks.

"But not now, Bitch-sensei," Touka recalls Bitch-sensei's state. "You need to rest. I'll go bring my sewing kit and I'll fix your skirt, too."

"Are you _good_ at sewing?" Bitch-sensei asks.

"Well...not really," Touka admits. "You any good, Hinano-chan?"

"No..." Hinano laughs sheepishly. "Oh! I can ask Megu-tan!"

"Ask me what?" Touka jumps when she hears the voice, spinning around to see Kataoka Megu standing in the doorway of the infirmary, still in her PE clothes, arms folded.

"To sew Bitch-sensei's skirt up!" Hinano chirps, not seeming surprised to see Megu there.

"Oh, can I call you Megu-tan too, Megu-chan?" Touka asks.

"It's the same thing, anyway," Megu sighs, entering the room. "You'd better do better, Bitch-sensei," Megu crouches, pulling out a needle and white thread. As she sews, Megu continues talking. "We'd rather you'd stay, so please do your best to assassinate Karasuma-sensei."

"So cool!" Hinano bursts out with as Bitch-sensei stares at Megu in surprise. The four girls sit in a comfortable silence, Megu finishing up her sewing.

"And Yada-san?" Megu bites off the excess thread, turning to face Touka, who suddenly feels really warm, overly conscious of the sweat on her forehead and all over her body. "It was very nice of you to say that to Bitch-sensei."

"Y-Yeah!" Touka straightens her back, toying with the hem of her blouse. "But it was all true, anyway. Bitch-sensei is really cool."

"Definitely!" Hinano agrees wholeheartedly. " _And_ she's going to give us secret lessons, isn't that great, Megu-tan?"

"Oi, brat! Don't go running your mouth!" Bitch-sensei shrieks, turning a light pink.

"But do your best, Bitch-sensei," Touka says sincerely, clasping her hands together. "Our classroom wouldn't be the same without your raunchy lessons."

"Fine," Bitch-sensei tosses her hair. "I guess there's no helping it, if you guys want me to stay."

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

"Hey, check that out, Nagisa-chan," Karma calls. It's lunch break and Karma is hovering by the window.

"What is it?" Nagisa stands, brushing off her skirt as she joins her boyfriend.

"What's up?" Kaede asks, joining the other two. Following their line of site to the tree outside, she sighs, shaking her head. "Oh, just that, huh? Karasuma-sensei eats his lunch there _all the time_ , you know."

"And now one woman draws near," Karma narrates. "Bitch-sensei is going in for the kill!"

Nagisa's eyes widen and she watches Bitch-sensei step towards Karasuma, her back facing the class.

"Open the windows, quick!" Kaede yelps, sliding open the window pane in front of her.

The class quickly gathers around the window, eager to see Bitch-sensei in action again.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

"Do you have a moment, Karasuma?" Irina's voice carries easily around the area. She's aware of the class watching her, pressed against the window. She's aware of Korosensei and Lovro watching her, Lovro probably already shaking his head in disapproval. Most of all, she's aware of Karasuma, his dark eyes narrowed as he glares at her.

Setting down his lunch, Karasuma give her a _look_. "This might be a mock assassination, but I'm done playing around," Karasuma says crossly. Irina shuts her eyes, remembering when Lovro attacked him in the staffroom.

 _You're very good at acting weak and idiotic...and you don't even need to hide your bloodlust!_

"You didn't like my last attacks?" Bitch-sensei pouts, shifting her knife from hand to hand.

 _You'd better do better. We'd rather you'd stay, so please do your best to assassinate Karasuma-sensei._

"They were an amutures way of attacking," Karasuma replies, still watching her warily.

Maybe using force during her previous attempt hadn't been the smartest idea.

 _If you incorporate that in some cunning plan, it'd be twice as great._

 _Well, good thing I had a cunning plan up my sleeve,_ Irina thinks to herself, reaching for the sides of her blazer.

"Eh? I put so much effort into it, too," Heaving a sigh, Irina tosses her hair. _Be idiotic._ "But aww, come on, Karasuma," Irina slides her blazer off, not allowing herself to look as she tosses it onto the ground, hoping she dropped it on the right spot. "I really want to stay here, you know that," She moves so that she's right in front of him, allowing a smile on her face. _Speak as pervertedly as I would normally_. "Just one little poke, and it'll be over. I'll make it worth your while," Making her voice the perfect blend of forceful and pleading that she had mastered over the years, Irina bats her eye lashes. "It would be better than _anything_ you've ever had before!"

Karasuma visibly weighs the pros and cons, and Irina sees the way he seems to come to a decision mentally. A decision to keep her from stabbing him. Well, that isn't about to stop her.

"Alright. You can kill me," He looks away from her, closing his eyes. _Mistake. Never turn your back on an assassin_ , Irina smirks to herself. "Stab me anywhere you'd like."

 _Liar_. She thinks, bringing the knife to her lips. _But I'm not any better._

"That makes me very happy," Irina smiles, then circles to the back of the tree. "Alright, here I come."

She grips the wire, and yanks, running around the tree in a wide arc at the same time, not knowing if it worked.

 _Please have worked!_ She thinks faintly, then sees Karasuma lying on the floor, stunned.

Elated, she jumps on top of him, taking a second to catch her breath.

"Whoa, she really got the better of him!" She hears Okajima exclaim. That brat. Did he doubt her?

"Way to go, Bitch-sensei!" Isogai cheers.

"Gotcha!" Feeling heartened, Irina drives the knife to Karasuma's face.

Only...

Only Karasuma catches the blade.

"That was close," He's sweating, excessively so. At the very least, Irina knows that he hadn't expected her attack.

"Shit," She curses in English, using both hands now. _Come on, come on..._ If this boils down to a battle of strength, Karasuma has her beat.

 _What can I do?_ She shuts her eyes.

 _Our classroom wouldn't be the same without your raunchy lessons!_

Well, she's gotten so far, may as well. "Karasuma..." Blinking excessively, Irina makes her eyes wider, bringing her lips close together to form a pleading face. For her more perverted targets, this face always works. Couple it with a sweet little baby voice...well, it's usually very effective. "I want to do it, can I?"

Instead of having the intended effect, there's only a tick in Karasuma's forehead. "What kind of assassin begs for permission?!" He demands. "You just don't know when to quit!"

Irina narrows her eyes. She _too_ does know when to quit. She simply has no intention to. Using more force, she tries to push against Karasuma.

It's a futile effort, of course. At least, until Karasuma releases the blade, letting it hit the center of his chest.

Irina lets out a sound of surprise. She had thought that Karasuma had too much pride to admit defeat.

"Whatever. I'm not going to spend the whole day wrestling with someone who clearly doesn't know when to quit!" Karaumsa snaps.

Irina's so pleased, she almost kisses him right there and then, just to show her gratitude. However, he probably wouldn't appreciate it.

"She got him!" Okajima yells.

"Amazing!" Kimura shouts, sounding, well, amazed.

Looks like some of the brats had been doubting her.

"This means Bitch-sensei's staying!" Maehara exclaims, and cheers echoed from around the class.

Irina smiles. She has no idea what Karasuma is thinking now, his face serious and slightly doubtful, but she stands, and offers him her hand.

"We should try that again sometime," She winks, unable to resist a scandalous comment. "I promise I'll be less forceful, and let you do all the work, so let's do this often!"

Karasuma gives her an absolutely appalled expression, knocking her hand away, and all she does is blow him a kiss, turning and walking away.

Then, and only then, does Irina allow herself a giant sigh of relief, picking up her blazer.

Lovro steps into her path.

"Professor..." Irina mumbles, feeling a little ashamed. She had blundered a lot, after all.

"You were a terrible apprentice," Lovro says frankly.

"Hey! I was pretty quick in picking up Mamochka **(Mother)**...in picking up Ogla's lessons!" Irina protests. Ogla's lessons had been on seduction, and she really _had_ picked them up fast. She's a little embarrassed to have let her pet name for Ogla slip out in front of Lovro, but well...can't be helped.

"But maybe you'll be better off as a teacher," Lovro continues as though she hadn't said anything. "Make sure you kill him, Irina."

Then it sinks in.

She assassinated Karasuma.

She's staying.

"Of course, professor!" She beams, then actually flings her knife and blazer into the air, jumping up and down in her celebration. "I did it! I did it!"

Lovro pats her on the head affectionately, before he leaves the mountain.

 _She did it!_

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"So the Bitch actually made it," Karma comments as he and Nagisa are on the train, heading back.

"Yeah," Nagisa takes his hand. "Isn't that great, Karma? Bitch-sensei isn't going anywhere."

"You're sure happy about that."

"Of course. Imagine class with a normal English teacher."

"Oh ick." A comfortable silence settles between the two.

Hesitantly, Nagisa leans her head against Karma's chest. "Um, Karma?"

"Yeah?" Karma's free hand goes to her hip, fingers curling around it. "By the way, I'm still amazed at the size of your hips."

"Huh?" Nagisa blinks a few seconds before she flushes brightly. "W-What?"

"Nothing, nothing," Karma laughs.

"Hmph," She huffs into his jacket, only for the redhead to chortle.

"What was it you were saying?" Karma asks after a short pause.

"Well," Nagisa mumbles. "My mother's out, right?"

"Er, yeah?"

"The house is scary without her," Nagisa admits, feeling her cheeks heating up again. "Could you...stay over?"

"What's this? Nagisa's asking me to spend the night at her house~" Karma sniggers.

"Y-Yes, that is what I'm saying," Nagisa's cheeks could probably be a traffic light by now. "It's really scary on my own in the dark, you know? It's like..." She trails off, unsure how to explain what she hears in the silence of her house. Her mother, she supposes. Her mother screaming at her, yelling, hitting, hearing cries reverberating off the walls...

"Don't tell me that wittle Nagisa's scared of the dark~" Karma simpers, snapping Nagisa out of her thoughts.

"Y-Yes...I am," Nagisa buries her face further into his chest. "It's embarrassing..."

"Nah, it's cute," Karma releases her hand, gripping her chin instead. Leaning down, he kisses her softly.

Nagisa closes her eyes, wondering what she ever did to deserve Karma.

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 _Next day..._

"Aren't you in a good mood, Korosensei," Isogai shoots at the yellow octopus of a teacher, smiling even as he dodges. Korosensei himself is humming happily while he flips through a magazine. "What's going on?"

"Maybe he finally got a date," Maehara moves next to Isogai, slinging an arm around him and ruffling his hair. "Like you should be getting."

"We've talked about this, Hiroto," Isogai sighs, pushing Maehara off him.

"Bah," Instead of giving Isogai his personal space, Maehara instead slings his arm around him again. "You still need to live a little."

"Maybe Korosensei's reading a porno!" Okajima suggest, leaning over the table. "Hey, sensei, did you see that issue where-"

"Yeah, yeah, keep your fantasies outside this classroom," Hitting Okajima on the head with a book, Kataoka pauses at the front of the class. "Coming, Yada?"

"Yeah, Megu-chan~!" Yada beams, running up so she's next to the taller girl. "We're walking with Rio-chan too, right?"

"Hey, I didn't say you could call me Rio," Nakamura complains, joining the other two. "So what's up, Korosensei?"

"I'm going to Hawaii to see a movie," Korosensei explains. "It's been premiering in America, and I'm really looking forward to it."

"Eh? Lucky," Nakamura sighs, then bends down to read the cover. "Sonic Ninja...oh, that superhero flick?"

"The one directed by Nagutso?!" Mimura gasps, dashing to the front of the class, leaving his bag behind. And Sugaya, who he had been in the middle of talking too.

"Oi, Mimura," Sugaya sighs, picking up Mimura's bag and following after him. "What superhero flick, Nakamura?"

"'Sonic Ninja. A comic series focused on a main character with a strong sense of justice'," Ritsu narrates. "'It has been made into a movie in 20XX, it's sequel coming out later this year.' I remember this! I once added subtitles to the trailer. It seemed very interesting."

"Indeed," Korosensei smirks. "My Mach speed was made for times like these."

"Make sure you enjoy it, Korosensei!" Yada says sincerely. "For us and for you. Tell us about it, too, 'kay? Sonic Ninja sounds very cool!"

At the back of class, Nagisa and Karma exchange surprised looks, the same magazine Korosensei is reading clutched in their hands.

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"Well then, I should be off," Korosensei stretches, preparing to take off when-

"Korosensei! Please take us with you!" Nagisa calls, she and Karma standing a little ways behind Korosensei.

"Oh? Do you like Sonic Ninja, then?" Korosensei asks.

"Yeah!" Smiling widely, Nagisa responds excitedly. "We've been waiting forever for the sequel!"

"I didn't think that you would enjoy superhero movies, Karma-kun," Korosensei comments.

"Well, I like the director, and he only very rarely handles comic book adaptations," Karma admits, scratching his cheek. "Besides, Nagisa and I watched the first one, and the plot was surprisingly good."

"What do you mean 'surprisingly'?!" Tugging on Karma's sleeve, Nagisa gives a mock-pout. "Jeez."

"I'm only joking," Karma reassures her.

"I would like to come too!" A peppy voice cuts into the conversation.

"Huh?" Nagisa blinks, then digs out her phone. In the small screen, Ritsu smiles up at her.

"Pardon my intrusion!" She says cheerfully.

"Ritsu, why are you in my phone?" Nagisa asks.

"To facilitate information sharing among my classmates, I downloaded my data into everyone's phone. You can just call me Mobile Ritsu! Oh, and Nagisa-san," Ritsu seems to peer at something before beaming. "You sure call Karma-san a lot!"

"Ritsu!" Nagisa squeals.

"You call him every night, in fact. Oh! You missed a few nights," Ritsu observes, smiling. "You two really are a good couple! Statistically-"

"Ritsuuuuu," Nagisa all but wails as Karma laughs in the background. "Please don't look at the rest of my data on my phone."

"Roger! Anyway, I have always wanted to take a little trip with Korosensei!" Continuing on, the on-screen Ritsu pulls out a camera. "Maybe I can take pictures. They may be beneficial for a later assassination!"

"Very well!" Stuffing them into the front of his robes, Korosensei prepares to take off. "Let me show you my speed!"

"Er, Karma?" Nagisa realises that they are about to fly at _Mach 20_. _Mach freaking 20._ "You know, I asked him on a whim...but what have we gotten ourselves into."

"Well, we never really considered the safety of it all..." Karma also seems mildly worried.

"Rest assured, I will accelerate slowly so that no one gets hurt," With that, Korosensei launches himself into the air, breaking into the sky almost immediately.

"Whoa, I can see the pacific," Karma whistles.

"Wow!" Nagisa points at a spot to the horizon. "The sun's setting there! It looks really nice. Ritsu, could you-"

"Already on it, Nagisa-san."

"I have many a pretty picture of sunsets, Nagisa-san. Would you like them?" Korosensei presents Nagisa with many photographs.

"No thank you," Nagisa refuses them politely. "I'd rather take them on my own."

"That's the spirit, Nagisa-san."

"Hey, you're like a plane huh?" Karma comments suddenly.

"A plane?" Knitting her brows together, Nagisa wonders what Karma's talking about. A plane?"

"You know? Planes are built so thick so that air resistance won't hurt the passengers inside. How'd you do that?" Karma asks.

"Good observation, Karma-kun, and even better question! The secret is in my skin," Korosensei explains. "My head is normally soft, but when under pressure, it becomes hard. This makes it possible for me to fly, even with mach level air resistance. As a matter of fact, you have something like my skin in your daily lives!" Pulling out a beaker, mineral water, flour and salt, Korosensei begins an experiment. "First, let's take a look at the properties of dilatancy..."

As Korosensei carries on his explanation, Ritsu whisperes to Karma. "Aren't you going to assassinate him, Karma-san? This seems like a good opportunity."

"Don't be ridiculous Ritsu," Karma sighs. "Sure, we'd kill him, but Nagisa-chan and I would die too, falling into the pacific at Mach Speed. You'll be fine of course, but try to think about Nagisa-chan and I. Korosensei's got us right where he wants us. All we can do is stay quiet and listen.

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"And that same dilatancy is put to use with the latest bulletproof vests," Korosensei finishes, setting Nagisa and Karma (and mobile Ritsu) gently onto the ground, packing away his equipment.

Only then does it register in Nagisa's brain that _wow, they're in Hawaii!_ There's sea everywehere she turns, and it's already night.

"Whoa, it's really pretty!" Nagisa exclaims.

"Isn't it?" Karma grins.

"All the more you know. The cinema's right down there," Changing into his disguise, Korosensei points down the hill they landed on.

"Well, shall we go then?" Karma starts down, only to pause as his phone vibrates. "Nagisa, did you text me?"

"No?"

"Hmm," Karma pulls out the small device, tapping the screen a few times. Then he pauses, paling.

"Karma?" Moving to his side, Nagisa tries to get a look at his phone, only for him to swiftly cover the screen. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing," He switches it off, then extends his hand to her. "Let's go watch Sonic Ninja, then. It'll be like a date~"

Although Nagisa isn't sure what's going on, she still smiles and takes Karma's hand. If it _is_ something serious, he'd definitely tell her. "Okay!"

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"Whoa, it's cold," Karma shivers as soon as they enter the cinema, releasing Nagisa's hand so that he can rub both of his together.

"The A/C's always on indoors in Hawaii, since it's eternally summer here," Korosensei explains, passing Karma a blanket. "Bundle up now, everyone."

Holding up the blanket, Karma's brow twitches. That damn octopus. The blanket is pink, with cheerful heart motifs decorating it. "Here, Nagisa," dropping it on his girlfriend's head, Karma joins Korosensei in searching for their seats.

" _Thank you_ ," Nagisa says softly, seeming to slip into English unconsciously, wrapping the blanket around her shoulders as she takes her seat.

"I cannot wait, Nagisa-san!" Ritsu beams, dressed in a thick parka and mittens. "This is my first time in a cinema!" On either sides of Nagisa, Karma and Korosensei are glaring at each other, seeming to be warring over the abundance of pink blankets Korosensei has.

"But you have the whole world wide web with you, Ritsu," Nagisa reminds her.

Sighing melodramatically, Ritsu shakes her head. "It's not the same Nagisa-san"

"I suppose not."

"That reminds me," Tapping her chin, Ritsu appears deep in thought. "It's America, you know, Nagisa-san. There will be no Japanese subtitles."

"Oh, I suppose not," She hadn't thought about that.

"Will you and Karma-kun be alright?"

Giggling a little, Nagisa rushes to reassure Ritsu. "Ah, Karma's English is better than his Japanese, if you can believe that."

"What about you?"

"Uh, I used to live in England, so I should be alright. I'm more concerned about you, Ritsu. You're from Norway naively, right? And then you stayed in Japan..."

"Rest assured, Nagisa-san! On our way here, I downloaded several English to Norwegian, Norwegian to English dictionaries as well as English to Japanese and Japanese to English dictionaries. Additionally, I filtered through all the relevant data and kept the related information. _I really hope we enjoy Sonic Ninja!_ " Ritsu beams, practicing her English.

"Don't you have anything _not_ pink?" Karma demands from Korosensei in the meantime.

"I have this pale pink blanket, but that's the manliest it gets," Snickering, Korosensei lowers his voice to a whisper. "I understand that you want to look cool in front of your girlfriend, Karma-kun, but there's nothing that can be helped."

Grumbling to himself, Karma snatches the blanket, draping it over his lap. Then, almost like a switch had been, well, switched in him, Karma beams. "Have any popcorn, you damned octopus?"

The trailers begin to play.

Immediately, Korosensei begins to tear, pulling out a handkerchief to mop his damp eyes. "Karma-kun called me an octopus...after everything..."

"Jeez," Karma laughs a little before pulling out his phone, his brow furrowed.

"Karma, what's wrong-"

" _Hey big guy, don't cry!_ " Nagisa jumps when she hears the American accented English behind her. " _It'll be alright._ "

" _Ah, it is nothing,"_ Promptly, Nagisa tries to cover up for Korosensei. " _He is just very sensitive. Please do not worry yourselves_."

Behind them, a small group of boys and girls sit, all dressed similarly like skaters. " _Is that so?_ " One of them asks. " _We thought he got stood up_."

" _Stood up?_ "

 _"You know. His date ditched him._ "

"N- _Nothing of the sort!_ _Thank you for your concern, though,"_ Nagisa smiles. Is getting stood up common in America...no, Hawaii?

" _No problem,_ " one boy bends down so he can see her clearer. " _Hey, you're pretty cute._ "

" _Huh_?" Nagisa blinks, then smiles again. _"Thank you very much, but-_ "

" _Holy shit, you're pretty damn freaking cute,"_ The boy whistles. " _Damn. Want to sit next to me? No one's sitting there."_

"Nagisa-san!" Ritsu whisper-shouts. "Oh my, what are you going to do?"

"Huh, what do you mean, Ritsu?" Whispering down to the AI, Nagisa wonders what she means.

"He's asking you out!"

Wait, what? Nagisa registers slight panic before she manages a slight smile again, turning back to the boys. " _Er, sorry. I'm here with someone..._ "

" _This big guy?"_ The boy asks skeptically. _"What's a cutie like you doing with him?_ "

" _Sorry, could you leave my girlfriend alone?_ " An arm snakes around her, pulling her into someone's side. Laughing to herself, Nagisa takes in Karma's scent. Of course he isn't able to simply sit and watch. " _Thank you very much_."

" _Sorry,_ " One of the girls apologises for the person who asked her out. " _He's an idiot."_

 _"I'm not an idiot."_

 _"Yes you are. The girl's obviously too cute for you."_

 _"Shut up_."

 _"Why? You're butt ugly, honey. We women want something better for our eyes. Like that redhead that cutie's going out with."_

The white light from the advertisement (something about Visa paywave?) illuminates Karma's face, and Nagisa stares in surprise at his ticked off expression.

"Karma are you angry at me?" She whispers, cupping her hands around his ears.

"No."

"Oh...do you want me to move?" As she says that, she has her head against his shoulders. She begins to lift her head, only for Karma to push it back onto his shoulder.

"You can stay there," Karma mumbles, his voice a little rough. He doesn't look at her, and Nagisa swears he's scowling.

"Then why do you look so upset?" Nagisa asks.

Karma lets out a surprise sound. "You don't know?"

"He's jealous, Nagisa-chan," Ritsu whispers.

Nagisa freezes, her face turning red rapidly. Oh jeez.

"Not jealous!" Karma whisper-yells. "Just like...that guy's so...so..."

Oh gosh, Nagisa feels her lips twitching. Karma's acting so cute.

"Overprotective, then?" Ritsu speculates, looking deep in thought.

"What?! Can you blame me? I mean, he doesn't even ask if she has a boyfriend or something, he just-"

Nagisa smiles, a giggle slipping from her lips. "You do things like this, yet everyone still wonders if you even really like me," Nagisa murmurs, leaning back and setting her hands on his shoulders. Pulling Karma down a little, she gives him a sweet little kiss.

"Who wonders that, even?" Karma asks, keeping his face close to hers.

"Tanaka and Takada?" Nagisa frowns, contemplating. "Well, I think a lot of people do, they just don't say it to my face."

"Stupid," Karma flicks Nagisa's forehead. "Of course I like you. I wouldn't have asked you out if I didn't."

"Ouch," Nagisa pouts, pulling away from Karma.

"Please, I bet you barely felt that," Karma snorts.

" _Seriously, now they're being all couply in front of me, ugh,_ " Nagisa freezes when she hears the voice of the boy from earlier.

" _Shut up man. Just because you're forever alone means that we want to listen to you complain,_ " A girl scolds him. " _I want to see this, really_."

Laughing, Nagisa wraps her arms around Karma's arm, smiling into the fabric covering it. "Love you loads," She whispers.

"Same," She peeks at Karma and _swears_ that he's blushing.

" _Awww!"_ One of the girls from behind gushes.

" _Eww, I'm getting cavities,_ " A different boy gags.

" _Shut up and suck on this, it'll give you real cavities,_ " Loud coughing can be heard from the seats behind and Nagisa wonders what happened. " _I want to watch a couple that's actually genuine and both parties aren't ugly to look at."_

 _"What does that even mean?_ " Another girl laughs.

As the cinema lights dim, the group of girls and boys finally quieten, and Nagisa curls up in Karma's side, accepting the popcorn and soda that Korosensei presents to them.

The movie begins.

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"Korosensei, approximately 83.45% of the people in the mall and cinema's are watching us," Ritsu reminds them.

"Well, he won't stop crying," Sighing, Nagisa offers Korosensei more tissues.

"How sad," Korosensei weeps, his tears pouring down his face like two rivers gushing from his eyes. "Long lost siblings..."

 _Korosensei's weak point #14: He cries at cliched scenes_

"Why? Having the main villain as the heroine's brother was pretty cliche," Karma folds his arms. "Didn't you expect it?"

"Well, a little," Smiling awkwardly, Nagisa digs out even more tissues. "I mean, I read the comics, Karma."

"I can predict how the series will end by analyzing the troupe of Hollywood movies," Ritsu volunteers. "Shall I?"

"Er, the ending's rather sad so maybe you shouldn't," Nagisa watches as Korosensei sobs even harder. "We don't want Korosensei to cry more."

"Uh, I don't want to bring any panic, but we shouldn't be drawing so much attention to ourselves," Karma holds up his phone, showing a picture on the screen to Nagisa. "Look."

"Oh, it's Mr and Mrs Akabane," Nagisa peers at the picture, displaying the red haired man and the blonde woman in front of a mall much like the one they are in currently. "What's wrong?"

"Well, they're kinda in Hawaii," Karma taps away from the picture and tosses his phone to Nagisa. "Read through the chat."

Nagisa's eyes trail down the screen, reading the bubbles. Most of them were just texts from Karma's mother, asking him lots of stuff, then her eyes fells to the words under the picture. After staring at it a bit, the words finally registered.

 _'Your father and I are going to watch Sonic Ninja in a quarter hour, hahahahaha, you want anything?'_

The time was roughly fifteen minutes before the movie Karma, Nagisa, Ritsu and Korosensei had watched.

"Are your parents in Hawaii, then?" Nagisa asks calmly.

"Yeah."

"So they're still in the mall."

"Yeah."

"Did you ask them to get you anything?"

"Yeah."

"So, what are we going to do?" Nagisa raises an eyebrow.

"Hide? They're probably still in the gift store. I'd rather not run into them and have awkward explanations," Karma shrugs.

Then his phone rings.

"Who is it, Karma-san?" Ritsu asks.

"My mother," Karma groans. "Are you serious."

"Are you going to pick up?" Finally finished with his crying, Korosensei wads up his used tissues.

"No. I never pick up," Karma shrugs.

"You're a bad kid," Nagisa murmurs, taking Karma's phone and picking up. Immediately, over the other end, a loud voice screams.

 _"Ahhhhhh, Karma, you finally picked up! For the first time since we've gotten you a phone, you picked up on your own-"_ Mrs Akabane babbles.

"Uh, it's me, Mrs Akabane," Nagisa holds the phone away from her ears, wincing at the ringing in her ear after that loud scream.

"Again? Nagisa-chan, you're the only one who picks up Karma's phone calls from his parents. Jeez. He's such a bad kid, you know, Nagisa-chan! How do you stand him?"

"I don't think you're supposed to bad-talk your son, Mrs Akabane," Nagisa sighs, peeking at Karma, who looks amused. "Why did you call, then?"

"Ah! We're in Hawaii, but my husband _claims_ he saw your doppelgangers!" Mrs Akabane says excitably. "I say he's had one too many bottles of wine-hey! This is my phone!"

Abruptly, the other end goes silent. Blinking, Nagisa puts the phone in front of her, wondering if the call has been disconnected. It's still running.

"Erm, hello?" Nagisa ventures nervously.

"Hello?" Now the voice on the other end is gruff. "Why are you and Karma together this late at night in Japan?"

"H-Huh?"

"It's pretty late in Japan now, right? Why are you and Karma together?" It's clearly Mr Akabane, but he sounds surprisingly...amused.

"Oh, my mother is in Kyoto now...or was it Osaka?" Nagisa frowns. She can't remember. "But I'm scared of the dark, so I asked Karma to stay-"

"GYAK!" Nagisa actually drops Karma's phone this time, the loud shriek emerging from both the phone and right next to her. "Nagisa-san! It's dangerous for young girls to have boys in their rooms at night!" Korosensei yelps, sounding panicked. "Especially if you know that that boy is attracted to you. Karma-kun, Nagisa-san, you both should not be in the same room alone! Especially in an empty house-"

"Here," Karma helps Nagisa cover her ears, and she's glad that Korosensei's rambling has been blocked out.

"Thank you," Picking up Karma's phone, Nagisa holds it against Karma's ear, waiting for him to speak into it.

"'Lo?" Karma's voice is muffled, since her ears are covered. "Yeah." Pause. "Yeah." Pause. "Don't be stupid." Pause. "Yeah." Pause. Pause. "Pft," Karma begins to laugh, and Nagisa nearly drops the phone again. "Uh huh. Yeah. Shut up, you can't fly back to Tokyo in five minutes." Another pause. "Hah. I'd like to see you try, mother."

"What's going on?" Nagisa asks.

Karma removes his hands from Nagisa's ears and hangs up the phone soon after. "Oi, Korosensei," He calls to their teacher, who's still panicking. "Let's go back to Japan, shall we?"

"Is it safe?" Nagisa asks doubtfully.

"Yeah. My mother fainted in the gift shop apparently. As soon as we see the hospital people, it's safe," Karma shrugs.

Nodding, Nagisa keeps an eye out for paramedics.

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"Is he _still_ crying?" Nagisa groans, completely exasperated.

They had landed outside the 3E school campus, and Korosensei seems to still be weeping buckets.

"But isn't it a tragedy, Nagisa-san?" Korosensei wails. "Imagine you had a brother who was separated from you, and he wants to kill you, but you can't kill him because he's your brother?"

"What's up with him?" Pointing at Korosensei, Karma seems to be confused. "I thought he was a big boy."

"He was like this the whole way home, too," Sounding worried, several rows of text appears on the phone screen, before Ritsu reappears.. "Apparently the best thing to do now will be to leave him on his own."

"Then we'll do that," Karma slings an arm around Nagisa, dragging her away. "Bye, Korosensei!"

"Thanks for everything!" Nagisa beams, waving.

"Goodbye, be careful on the roads tonight!" Korosensei sniffles, waving back. "And write a report on the movie in English tomorrow, all of you. Especially Ritsu-san."

"Homework?" Nagisa groans.

"It's a small price to pay for a free round trip to Hawaii," Korosensei replies.

As they travel down the mountain, Nagisa heaves a giant sigh.

"What's wrong, Nagisa-chan?" Karma nudges her.

"Well, that's not something you experience everyday, you know?" Well, at least not something Nagisa herself has ever experienced. Karma, on the other hand, is another matter. "In the space of five hours, we flew to Hawaii while listening to a lecture, watched a movie-"

"Where you were hit on~" Ritsu giggles.

"-and returned home," Nagisa flushes, but rests her head on Karma's shoulder.

"What's more, Korosensei reached a new level of care protecting you two from harm," Ritsu supplies. "I saw him use his tentacles to shield you from dust particles and wind pressure."

"What we saw today...that's what Korosensei sees all the time," Nagisa tilts her head back, staring at the stars. Making a noise of affirmation, Karma begins to tug at Nagisa's hair. "The more we get to know him, the more I feel that his life is receding from our view."

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 **Yay, still very late...oh well! Very sorryyyyy!**

 **I'll get started on the next chapter immediately, so that it'll come out on time. Geez I'm bad at schedules :P**

 **AND OH OH OH OH OH! I TRIED TO INCORPORATE A JEALOUS KARMA AND THAT HAPPENED! SO YEAH**

 **Okey, not to waste more space (XD) Review replies ~~ (Fun fact: Listening to Sky full of stars by coldplay while doing this)**

 ** _Xenoncanaan:_** _Yeah, they're pretty cute huh XD_

 ** _SereneKarma:_** _MUAHAHAHAHHA I actually thought of it an hour after I published the chapter and I legit tackled my computer to add it in XD Glad you liked it (_ _o w o ) [-That's a face btw]_

 ** _Aipom4_ : **_Yeah...I guess if you don't like one parent, the other looks a lot better? IDK. Nagisa, in the anime, seemed like a really sensitive little boi, but it was pretty cute how he still wanted both his parents to stay together._

 ** _FlamingAngel525:_** _I feel that he would be nice? And like Nagisa? I guess *furrows brows* well I wung it with the scene up there, soooooo...AND OMG REALLY? THANK YOU FOR SAYING THAT NOW I'M SMILING REALLY WIDELY AND MY FACE HURTS_

 ** _animagirl:_** _*whispers* Fangirlinggggggggggggg~ My not-so-secret-hobby lolol! Here have an update...sorry it took so long, but oh well! Hope you liked it XD_

 ** _Lizzy7258_ :** _AREN'T THEY COOTE? This is also me satisfying my need for Karma x Nagisa fics by writing about them. Though, I don't really like what I write, so if you have any Karma x Nagisa (or Karma x fem!Nagisa, I'm not particular) fics you want to recommend, please do!_

 ** _Danget the critic:_** _Dun dun dun indeed *LAUGHS EVILLY* Maehara and Isogai seemed like the type who'd have occasional petty arguments, so I tried that out ^^ Glad you liked it XD_

 ** _OneWhoCharms:_** _Whoa you got the volume? I'm jealous I'm saving up so I can buy the whole manga series and show it off to my friend XD Oh, but where I live, the Manga series hasn't been completely translated yet :( It's causing me lots of grief...Yeah! I've always liked Irina's backstory...not liked, maybe. But it's always interested me, especially since they didn't touch on it a lot in the anime (I watched the anime first) Hope you liked Lovro with all his limited appearance XD I was thinking of maybe bring Irina's other, less-known sensei in too (the Ogla I keep mentioning) but I'll save her for a different chapter ^^ Hopw you liked this_

 ** _Princess630:_** _Karma and Nagisa are my favouriteeeeeeeee XD I really wanted Nagisa's father to talk to Hiromi, but I realised - CRAP I MADE HER GO ON A BUSINESS TRIP. And so yep. Can't take that back. The backstory of Nagisa and Karma...well honestly, I'm still working on it, but I should be done by the time I finish the first season ^^ So you an look forward to that XP_

 _(Also there's the PM function, if you want to contact me, just so you know ^^)_

 ** _Amaya:_** _Were you overseas? No wonder :P I guess you're home now, huh? XD Hope you can write your story, then :) oh, Yada mentioned before that Karma would be first, based on looks alone, so because of that, I assumed that Maehara would be second, since Karma's first...though maybe Isogai should be the second-best looking? I'm not sure lol :D My sister read the last extra and told me she got a cavity lol :P Everyone wants to hug Nagisa, I think XD But I guess we all can't *sigh* (Unless you're Karma) so I'll exchange a hug with you then :P *hugs* until the next time you review :)_

 ** _Marshmallow:_** _I really think you need some sleep...at least google up the word? Hahahaha, I really wished it was animated...at least they did Takebayashi's time, though. That was... :D I'm still hoping that they'll maybe do Maehara's arc, too... HAHAHAHAHA I LOVE THE HEART EYE EMOJI XD It's so cootteeee! Oh! You use a chromebook too? Mine is veery...temperamental...that's all I'll say. *glares* but it's nice to type on...AND WHOA YOURS IS SCHOOL ISSUED TOO? SO IS MINE! So...a lot of sites are blocked, unfortunately... *sigh* thankfully, this one still isn't! Well my chromebook was kinda stolen so yeah. I'm still amazed that my friend managed to get it back O.O It's pretty bad when you lose your computer over the weekend. Weekdays, it's kinda like mild panic, but weekends it's more like ARGH WHERE IS IT I WANTED TO PLAY _(insert game name)! I'm a terrible lady. I sit with my legs open and I fall down everything...if you've read through the review replies before, I once fell down stairs and sprained my dignity. I'm also horrible at wearing skirts. I legit run and jump around everywhere, so my skirt kinda...yeah... Counter Strike Global Offence? I haven't heard of it before, but it sounds like a fighting game. Something like Super Smash Brothers maybe...dang I'll go google it. The 'proper lady' thing bothers me. Gendersteryotyping is the worse aND WHOA I MADE THIS A WHOLE CHUNK OF A PARAGRAPH WOW I GOTTA STAPH :O Takaoka...omg that guy I realise I haven't thought of him yet. Shizzle :O Better start again...*stares at the see you friday* Errrrrrrrrr, yeah...sorrrrryryyryryryryryyyY! (Maybe your irl name secretly means Marshmallow :O You never know)_

 ** _Happyguy:_** _No problem XD I hope you liked this too :3_

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 _Extras #2:_

 _(Because a few of you want to know Karma and Nagisa's back story: Here have the confession scene:)_

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December twenty-fifth.

Unlike most people around the world, Karma's feelings toward his birthday were completely neutral. He wasn't even sure what age he was turning, was it fourteen? He'd have to ask Nagisa later. To him, his birthday was just that - the day he was born. Full stop. That was all.

In fact, the only reason he was still awake was because he _knew_ Nagisa. Meaning he knew how important birthdays were to her.

11:51 PM

December, 24th

Maybe he should have gotten some sleep, _then_ woken up at eleven fifty, instead of staying awake.

" _Karma, honey~_ " The door to his room opened.

Karma peeled his arm away from his face, sitting up. "Yeah?"

" _Present~!_ " His mother said cheerfully in...French, maybe? Placing a strangely shaped object that was covered in wrapping paper in his hands. "Don't forget to open it later."

 _"Of course not_ ," Karma replied in English, taking the strange object before tossing it somewhere on his bed.

" _Eh? Karma! You never find anything that's been on your bed! It's a total mess, how do you even sleep?"_ Sounding panicked, his mother picked up the wrapped object.

" _Like this~"_ Feeling a smirk grace his face, Karma unceremoniously shoves several of the junk on his bed onto the floor, creating a small space for him to curl up in. " _Duh_."

" _Ugh, no wonder your father made the area around your bed all cushioned,"_ Sighing, his mother wrapped her arm around him in an one-armed hug. " _Nagisa-chan is going to come over, huh?_ "

His eyes flick to his phone screen.

11:56 PM

December, 24th

Well, his mother was pretty good for passing time

"Who knows?" Karma fibbed, slipping back into Japanese. Nagisa had swung by the past couple of years, why would she miss it now? He'd die if she did. After he spent the year psyching himself out... "I'm going to take a leak-"

" _What_?!" His mother gave him a scandalised look. " _The girl you are very obviously in love with is coming and you're going to piss? Karma, how insensitive!_ "

His eyes glance at his phone screen.

11:58 PM

December, 24th

"I'd already be done if you hadn't kept me~! Oh, you shouldn't shouldn't make so many assumptions. I've heard it's a sign of ollllllldddd age~~" Wriggling his fingers as a 'goodbye', Karma went to the bathroom, his mother shouting after him angrily.

While his relationship with his mother used to be a lot worse, he still wasn't overly fond of her. Not after the Nagisa thing earlier that year.

He returned as his phone buzzed, announcing that it was midnight.

12:00 AM

December, 25th

Thankfully, his mother was gone. Even though she was more insensitive than Tanaka and Takada combined, she knew that Karma had certain customs on his birthday. She had left a ticked off note on his table (that Karma hadn't bothered to read), though, written in messy handwriting, held down by the strangely shaped gift.

After a bit, quiet murmurs were heard from outside his room. The door of his room was quietly opened soon after, a petite blue-haired girl, bundled up in winter clothes, slipping into the room.

"Hello, Karma-kun!" Nagisa gave him a little wave, beaming. In her other hand, she clutched a large basket that practically had wrapped gifts spilling out of it, decorated nicely with red, green and silver ribbons. It looked very christmassy.

12:04 AM

December, 25th

One such custom was having Nagisa as the first person he saw on his birthday.

"Hey, Nagisa!" Karma greeted, before laughing as he saw what she was wearing. "A nosewarmer? Seriously? What are you, a kid?"

"Whyever not?" Nagisa scrunched up her nose, unhooking the nosewarmer from around her nose. "I cannot afford to catch a cold, then my mother would _know_ I've been going out."

"Is that bad?" Karma asked, feeling a little stupid after he asked the question. He _knew_ about Shiota-freaking-Hiromi.

"Apparently cold air is very bad for the skin," Nagisa laughed, peering at Karma through her lashes. "So I have to sneak out during the winter. Still, nosewarmers are amazing. You should try one!"

"Alright, maybe one day," Karma shrugged, then realised that Nagisa was still standing by his door. "Come in and sit down!" Brushing a whole chunk of stuff off his bed, Karma manages to clear a space.

Nagisa gives him a look, one that implies that he's being idiotic. "You should clean your bed," Nagisa unwraps her muffler, something Karma bought for her since she thought it was cute, and peels off her thick winter cloak, something Karma bought for her as a joke but turned out to be very useful, then takes off the coat underneath, pulling off her mittens, earmuff and hat, which caused her blue locks to tumble out, curling everywhere, even though they were normally very straight. After carefully shaking the snow out her things, she laid them on the tatami mats near his kotatsu. "You have a kotatsu..." Nagisa stared at the short table in envy. "Must be nice during winter." Smiling at him, Nagisa placed her basket on the kotatsu, careful not to cover Karma's mother's note.

"You can come over whenever you want to use it," Karma invited her, trying to clear more space.

"Jeez," Nagisa moved to his bed, crouching down on the cushioned area around it, murmuring picking up the scatter stuff on the floor, sorting it out. "Books, books, random object, game, DS-"

"Oh! I was looking for that!" Karma took it from Nagisa, opening it and powering the device up.

"Books, books, books, more books," Nagisa glanced up at Karma, giving him a strange look. "Why so many books?"

"Why not?" Karma hunted for his cartridge. Where was it...

Then he felt something hard being pressed into his hand. He blinked, but glanced at it. It was the cartridge he'd been looking for.

"Thanks, Nagisa," He seriously tried not to blush. Shit. As his mother would say, he was pretty freaking far gone.

12:13 AM

December, 25th

"No problem, Karma-kun," Nagisa stood, walking over to his bookshelf, carrying the stack of books she'd sorted. As he inserted his cartridge and waited for the icon to pop up, he watched Nagisa, carefully sorting out the books. "Of course, I will have to take you up on the kotatsu offer. It seems too good a chance to pass on."

The two sat in silence for a while longer, and by the time Karma spoke up, Nagisa had kept all the things he'd knocked onto the ground and had moved on to clearing up the shit on his bed.

12:28 AM

December, 25th

"Oh, that's right," Karma said, more to himself than Nagisa. "Nagisa, look at me."

"Hmm?" Nagisa glanced up from the drawer where she was sorting out his cartridge cases. Karma didn't know why she bothered. Everytime she came over, she packed it up and it just got messy again. After blinking several times, Nagisa focused on Karma's face.

Her pupils were dilated.

12:29 PM

December, 25th

"Oh, right!" Nagisa shouted the drawer, beaming. "Happy birthday, Karma-kun! Oh, and Merry Christmas!" Taking quick steps across the room, Nagisa flung her arms around Karma, who froze.

12:30 PM

December, 25th

Shit. Now he was blushing.

Dammit.

Well, might as well enjoy the moment. Bringing his arms up, Karma wrapped them around Nagisa, holding her a _little_ closer to him.

Another birthday custom of his - to only be wished happy birthday at half-past twelve.

12:33 PM

December, 25th

"Was that weird?" Nagisa pulled away, too soon, in Karma's opinion. "Meiko-san said that you would be happy if I hugged you."

"Meiko?"

"Meiko-san from primary school. Did you forget?" Nagisa tilted her head, smiling shyly. "Meiko-san was the pretty one."

"I'm honestly just surprised that you still kept in contact," Karma looked away, then sighed. "Can I tell you something?"

"If you wish," Nagisa didn't walk away, staying directly in front of Karma.

He stared into her eyes.

Her pupils were still dilated.

Well, that was the only encouragement he needed.

12:35 AM

December, 25th

Reaching out, Karma lightly took a lock of Nagisa's blue hair between his fingers, twisting it around his finger. Surprisingly, and as he had hoped, she didn't object. Instead, she looked a little flustered, like he was.

"Well, I like you," Karma locked eyes with Nagisa.

Nagisa smiles gently. "And I like Karma-kun too."

"You can drop the -kun," Karma told her, then sighed. Looks like she didn't get it. However, surprisingly, Nagisa grabs the air he just exhaled...well, not really grabbing the air, since air can't be held...well, whatever.

"Please do not sigh, Karma-ku...Karma. Every time you sigh, a piece of happiness escapes," Nagisa scolded him, pressing her closed fist against his chest.

"You believe that?" Karma lifted his brows.

"Of course," Nagisa smiled and opened her hand. "I will give it back to you, now."

Shit. She was just too freaking cute. Karma felt a blush cover his cheeks and he brought up his free hand to cover his mouth out of habit.

"I like you romantically," Karma blurted out.

12:39 AM

December, 25th

Nagisa froze.

For a long moment neither of them say anything

12:43 AM

December, 25th

"E-E-EH?!" Nagisa exclaims, snapping her head from left to right like she was looking for something. Unfortunately, she also dislodged the lock of hair of hers that was curled around Karma's finger. Slowly, Nagisa pointed at herself. "A-Are you talking to m-me?"

"Well, do you see anyone else?" Karma let out a small laugh, although his insides were twisting.

"E-EH?!" Nagisa took a gigantic leap back. One second she was in front of him, the next, she was at the door, eyes wide open.

"You don't need to go so far," Resting his chin on his palm, Karma offered Nagisa a smile. "I'm not going to do anything to you."

"B-But C-Chihiro-san said that boys always kiss girls after they confess," Nagisa mumbled. "Since Chihiro-san is very smart, I t-thought..."

"I'm in lo-like with you, Nagisa," Karma reminded her. "I wouldn't do anything that would make you uncomfortable."

"O-Oh," The tension in Nagisa's shoulders slowly loosened. "...how long...?" Nagisa's voice was so soft, Karma almost didn't hear it.

Almost.

"Since we were twelve," Karma shrugged.

"Then why only now...?" Nagisa's expression suddenly turned a little bitter, but Karma knew that she was cross at nobody but herself. "Is it because of the incident...?"

"No, it's 'cause I remember you said once that for people to date, both parties should be at least thirteen," Karma stood, and regretted it when Nagisa more or less hugged the door. "But last year you didn't seem ready for a relationship at all, and I admit that I wasn't either."

Nagisa went quiet again, playing with her fingers.

12:46 AM

December, 25th

"Well, you don't have to give an answer right now, you just have to give it to me by today," Karma made his way to Nagisa's winter stuff, picking it up. "Eleven fifty-nine's your deadline."

"Huh?" Nagisa asked blankly. "But I will need time alone to think."

"Then take time alone," Moving to Nagisa, Karma held out the bundle of her things to her.

"But it's your birthday," Nagisa frowned, accepting her stuff. "And Christmas. I want to spend it with you."

"Well, it's not like these are once-in-a-lifetime chances," Karma pointed out. "I'll have another birthday next year, and Christmas will be there too. I mean, it's not like we're going to stop being friends after this, right?" Nagisa nodded. "So just go and think, K?"

Nagisa slowly nodded. "Alright...I'll give you your answer before the day is over! Then we can spend the rest of the day together," Beaming, Nagisa somehow managed to wrangle on her winter clothes, open the door and wave at the same time. "See you, Karma! Oh, remember to enjoy your birthday and Christmas, alright?"

"Sure!" Karma waved at the disappearing girl, managing to smile. However, as soon as the door slammed shut behind Nagisa, he sunk to his knees, grabbing fistfuls of his hair.

 _Shit._

Why did he have to _say_ something _._

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 **Well, we all know that the confession turns out well, :P**

 **All the same, I seem to be torturing Karma a lot in the backstory...hmm...should change that.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed the sneak peak at the backstory *winks***


	12. Chapter 12

**Hmm...**

 **Not much plot derivation in this, mostly cause I couldn't figure out how to change stuff...**

 **WELL THIS IS OUT ON TIME, CELEBRATE!**

 **(Still, this is really terrible, I'm so sorry Please don't die while you're reading this!)**

 **Disclaimer: I own a very complicated music score, but definitely not assassination classroom :P**

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 _Chapter 12:_

 _Uh...WATCH OUT, THERE'S A CRAZY WHITE HAIR DUDE IN HERE_

 ** _OR_**

 _Horibe Itona Time - first period_

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"Good morning, class." Korosensei enters the classroom the next day with a smirk on his face.

"Korosensei, you seem really happy again," Raising her hand, Kaede promptly makes an observation.

"Do I seem so, Kayano-san?" Korosensei laughs a little, beaming widely. "That is because I've heard that this class is receiving another transfer student."

"Another assassin, you mean," With a sigh, Maehara props his chin up with his palm.

"Probably," Okano groans, resting her head on her table. "Why can't we have a normal student for once?"

"Why would you want a normal student?" Nakamura laughs loudly, breaking the depressed air that Maehara and Okano had created. "I mean, look at Ritsu! She's so much fun! The other day she helped me out really good."

"'The other day she helped you out'," Hayami corrects. "There's no need to add a 'really good'."

"Yeah, yeah," Turning around in her seat, Nakamura ruffles Hayami's wavy hair. "Relax, Hayami!"

"It amazes me that you managed to pass your Japanese oral," Hayami grumbles, knocking away Nakamura's hands.

"So colddddd," Nakamura giggles, dragging out the 'd'. "But it's OK, you still have ChibAGH!" Okano had come to Hayami's rescue, turning around and somersaulting over Nakamura's table, covering the mouth of the blonde girl.

"Yeah, yeah, stopping running your mouth, Nakamura," With a sigh, Okano faces the rest of that class, all of who are watching her with wide eyes. "Got a problem?" She arches a brow.

The class averts its eyes...well, mostly.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA," Maehara bursts into laughter, slapping his knee as he laughs. "You really look like some kind of brute monkey, oh my gosh!"

"Shut up!" Okano snaps, looking pissed.

"Like a graceful monkey, would you rather he'd said?" Mimura snickers.

"I'm not a monkey!" Okano yells.

"Let go of Nakamura, Hinata," Hayami pokes her friend, and Okano releases Nakamura, going to clobber Maehara and Mimura, causing Nagisa to giggle a little, the whole classroom beginning to buzz with chatter.

"Everyone's really lively today, huh?" Kaede says sounding a little worried.

"Y-Yeah..." Nagisa scratches her cheek.

"Everyone's really loud, you mean," Sugino groans, shaking his head.

"You say that like it's a bad thing!" Nakamura sings, grinning at Sugino.

"And you say that like it's a good thing," Sugino smiles.

"Who said it wasn't~! It just means our class is really bonded, right, Kayano, Nagisa?" Beaming, Nakamura turns to the two other girls.

"Our class is really bonded, yes!" Kaede agrees.

"I'm staying out of this," Nagisa pulls out her notebook, hoping that Korosensei would wrap up homeroom soon.

"Now, now, please calm down everyone," Korosensei attempts to calm the class, sighing when no one pays him any mind. "Isogai-kun, Kataoka-san, if you would."

Nagisa watches as Isogai stands and claps his hands thrice, the sound as loud as a drumset. The class quietens, all eyes turning to the male class rep.

"It's homeroom now, we can talk more during break, alright?" Isogai tells everyone, a pleasant smile on his face.

When he receives affirmative sounds, Isogai gives the class one more wide smile before he sits down again.

"Thank you, Isogai-kun," Korosensei smirks. "As I was saying, I got into a spot of bother, taking Ritsu-san too lightly the last time." At the back of the class, Ritsu gives a little cheerful little giggle, seeming nothing like a deadly assassin. "I won't make that mistake again. In any case, it would be nice for you all to have a new classmate!"

It's clear that the whole class is thinking the same thing... 'what's he like?'

"Hey, Ritsu, have you heard anything?" Hara asks. "You know, as a fellow transfer student?"

"Nice, Hara-san!" Kaede exclaims, shooting out of her seat with her hand up, moving to Hara for a high five. "I didn't even think about asking her! Can you hack the school's database or something?!"

"We shouldn't hack into the school. Isn't that right, Kaede?" Nagisa asks, her eye twitching.

"But it would be funnn if we got to see everyone's personal information!" Kaede complains, returning to her seat. "I mean, we could blackmail someone into buying us all pudding from-"

"Kaede-chan!" Yukiko exclaims, sounding almost upset. Nagisa freezes like the rest of her class, turning to look at Yukiko, who has her passive smile on again. "We will not be doing that, alright? It's extremely mean-spirited, so let's listen to what Ritsu-san has to say. _Have_ you heard anything about the new transfer student, Ritsu-san?"

"Yes, a little," Ritsu's voice became serious, although there was a smile on her face. "Originally, he and I were meant to be introduced together. I would handle long-range attacks, and he, close combat. Together, we'd drive Korosensei into a corner. However, these orders were cancelled for two reasons," _What are the reasons...?_ Nagisa wonders silently. The rest of the class seems to be thinking along the same lines as her, as they all keep silent, no sarcastic jibes or thoughtless comments thrown out. "Firstly, his adjustments took longer than expected," _Adjustments?!_ Nagisa's eyes widen. _Is he an AI too?!_ "And secondly, I lacked the capabilities to provide him with adequate support."

 _Eh_? Nagisa pauses.

But this is coming from _Ritsu_ , who blew off Korosensei's finger...more than the whole class combined had done. Of course, excluding Karma.

"As an assassin, I am overwhelming overwhelmingly inferior to him," Ritsu says, her voice hard. There's a bit of longing in her face, but it's mostly hidden before her grim expression.

Just _what_ kind of monster is the new student? Nagisa swallows thickly.

"Uh, Korosensei, is that why there's a new seat at the back of class?" Okajima asks, a little uselessly.

"Y-Y-Yes, Okajima-kun..." Korosensei trails off as the door to the classroom slides open ominosly.

No one stands at the doorway as it opens, and Nagisa swears that clouds gather around the already dim sun outside, sealing away almost all the light. Her heart begins to pump rather loudly...had it always been that loud? There's total silence, and then -

A person with thick wavy hair covering their face slowly staggers into the room from the shadows of the corridor, dripping water everywhere, like a character from a horror movie.

The classroom explodes in screams, and no one remains in their seat. Even the Terasaka gang jumps half-way across the room. Nagisa herself immediately rushes to the back of the class, searching for Karma, arranging her petite frame carefully so that it's neatly hidden behind his larger one. Her heart is pounding, and she's actually amazed that she's so frightened. She's even sweating through her palms!

"A zombie, huh? Well, I've always wanted to see one," Karma hums, even as Nagisa laughs nervously, gripping the back of Karma's jacket. Knowing him, he had probably been about to tackle the zombie.

"Y-Yeah..." Sensing that Karma is about to rush off, Nagisa clutches his jacket tighter. Around the class, chaos ensures, everyone shouting at the same time and screaming. Nagisa only manages to catch bits that people are bellowing out.

"The hell is that?!" Terasaka screeches.

"Shit, did it come to kill us?!" Maehara exclaims.

"Awesome! This is just like Gakkuo Gurashi!" Fuwa exclaims, a heart seeming to ooze from her mouth.

"Fuwa, what the hell's that?!" Okajima yells.

"Attack!" Nagisa isn't sure where the call comes from, but suddenly the whole class is charging.

"WAIT, WAIT!" Kurahashi screams, and it's loud and high-pitched and somehow enough to stop everyone. "Kirara-chan?" Kurahashi asks when everyone goes quiet. Nagisa loosens her grip on Karma's jacket. _Kirara?_

Instead of responding, the zombie...uh, the person with wavy hair over their face slowly brushes it away, turning slowly to glare at Kurahashi, water dripping slowly off their hair and onto the ground. "My name is Hazama."

"Right, Kirara-chan!"

"Hazama."

"Ki-chan?"

"Hazama."

"Haza-chan?"

"Hazama."

"Hazama-chan!" Kurahashi declares firmly, in a voice that leaves no room for argument. "Everyone, it was just Hazama-chan."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Isogai and Kataoka make their way to the front of the class, Kataoka extending a towel to Hazama. "We thought you were...well..."

"It's fine," Hazama stares at the towel for a bit, then sighs deeply, accepting it and beginning to dry her hair.

"Oi, Hazama, what 'appened?" While picking his nose, Terasaka barely glances at Hazama, as if implying that she is less important than his boogers. "You're wet, what shit went down?"

"I don't care to tell," Hazama says in monotone.

"Alright, everyone, sit down," Kataoka instructs, returning to her seat. "Well, that wasn't _that_ scary after all, right Korosensei-" As Kataoka turns to look at their teacher, she pauses.

Nagisa follows her line of sight.

Korosensei is pressed up against the wall, sweating and panting heavily, his hat lying on the floor.

"T-T-T-That's right! It wasn't s-s-scary at all," Korosensei picks up his hat, dusting it.

"Liar!" Okajima yells.

"You got so scared you were hugging the wall!" Maehara jabs a finger at Korosensei.

"N-Nothing of the sort!" Korosensei glances away.

"Haha," Nagisa laughs a little bit, feeling herself slowly begin to calm down.

Most of the students hover by their desks, whispering in clumps. What _did_ happen to Hazama? Nagisa wonders silently, resting her head against Karma's back.

"You still scared, Nagisa-chan?" Karma asks with good humor, turning his head slightly to glance at Nagisa.

"No, thank you," Releasing Karma's jacket, Nagisa takes a step away, clasping her hands together in her front. "But I'm a little confused. What happened to Hazama-san?"

"Heck if I know," Karma smiles a bit, then waves Nagisa off to her seat. "Sit down. I have a feeling something interesting is going to happen."

"Interesting, huh?" Nagisa murmurs as she sits.

"What was that, Nagisa?" Kaede asks.

"Nothing..."

 _Clack_

Nagisa starts when the classroom door is slid open again. In unison, the whole class turns to the door, staring at the shadowed figure in the doorway.

The figure takes a single step forward, allowing Nagisa a proper look at him...or her (their for consistencies sake). Clothed completely in white, not a single patch of skin is exposed, save for a section of their collarbones, a strange white mask covering their face, their hands tucked into their sleeves. Two pink lights hover behind a visor in the mask, where eyes would be normally.

Slowly, the figure extends a hand towards the class.

Nagisa sucks in a breath, unconsciously leaning away from the figure even as the rest of her class leans forward, wary expressions on their faces.

Then the figure flicks their hand and a dove flies out of their sleeve.

The class jumps out of their skin as a whole (Nagisa being no different) and there's a crashing sound, accompanied by several of her classmates (male and female alike) screaming.

Nagisa's head snaps to the back of class, where the sound of the crash came from.

Manami is sprawled on the floor, a hand clutching the fabric over her heart.

"Manami-san, are you alright?" Yukiko asks frantically, leaping out of her seat and helping Manami up.

"That scared me..." Manami admits, fixing her glasses.

"I think it scared everyone," Kaede agrees, turning back and offering Manami some candy.

"Kaede, I don't think candy will help..." Nagisa mumbles, glancing nervously at the white figure in the doorway.

"Candy always helps. Catch, Manami!" Kaede tosses the candy before Nagisa can stop her, and it ends up smacking Manami's glasses off her face and the two items (the candy and the glasses) land in her lap.

"Kaede, there's someone here, remember?" Nagisa gives Kaede an exasperated look, before turning back to the white cloaked figure.

"I'm sorry," Nagisa and Yukiko chorus.

"It's alright," The figure's voice is soothing and low, a man's voice, and although Nagisa cannot see his face, she somehow knows that he is smiling. "I am the one who should be apologising, since I frightened you all. I had no intention to, so my deepest apologies." With a sweeping bow, the figure snaps his fingers, the dove returning and perching on his shoulder.

"It's fine," Kataoka takes over, and Nagisa sags in relief. "We probably made you uncomfortable, watching you so closely..."

"Oh," Hazama suddenly made a noise of surprise, at the back of class. "It's you."

"Indeed. I'm glad to see that you are feeling better, young lady, not to mention, dry," The figure gives another sweeping bow. "I didn't expect you to be in this class."

"Hun," Looking uninterested, Hazama pulls out a book. "I suppose I'm obligated to thank you."

"There's no need."

"Then I will not," Opening the book to a marked page, Hazama more or less removes herself from the conversation entirely.

"Ah, how cold," The figure laughs, a nice warm laugh. "Oh," Noticing the curious looks of the other students, he laughs again. "No, I am not the new student. I am his guardian. You can call me 'Shiro', as in white, since I'm wearing only that colour."

Shiro seems friendly enough, arms folded with a leisurely posture.

"Well, some guy coming in and doing tricks, that'd scare anyone," Yada points out, and the class starts to laugh.

"It might not scare Korosensei, you know," Okajima adds, grinning. "He has a lot of experience, so he might-"

Okajima pauses, staring at the corner of the ceiling.

"What'cha lookin' at, Okajima..." Maehara slowly trails off as he follows Okajima's gaze.

Nagisa glances where the two boys are looking at and feels like bringing her palm to her forehead...or a facepalm, in informal words.

At the corner of the ceiling, Korosensei is in his liquid form, staring straight forward with a poker face.

"Korosensei, you scaredy-cat!" Maehara shouts.

"He's scared enough to use his liquify trick!" Okajima groans.

 _Korosensei weak point #15: He gets taken in by rumors_

"W-Well, Ritsu-san was telling all those scary stories!" Korosensei defends himself, dropping from the ceiling and crawling into his forgotten robes. "N-Nice to meet you, Shiro-san!" As though trying to retain whatever shreds of dignity he had left, Korosensei shifted back into his normal form, using a sort of overly serious voice. "May I ask where the new student is?"

"It's a pleasure, Korosensei," Taking Korosensei's strangeness in stride, Shiro draws out a bar of jelly and offers it to him. "He's a rather unique child, both in personality and otherwise. I'll introduce him myself," Shiro steps into the classroom, then pauses, seeming to stare right at Nagisa and Kaede.

 _He's pretty evasive..._ Nagisa thinks to herself, meeting Shiro's eyes.

"What is the matter?" Korosensei asks.

"Nothing...just...you've got good kids here, I'm sure he'll fit right in," Shiro nods, and gives Kaede a little wave. At least, Nagisa thinks it's for Kaede. "I'm even more sure that he'll get along with that green-haired girl. They look like they might have a _lot_ in common."

"What makes you say that?" Kaede asks, her voice guarded and a little fierce.

"Well, you both have oddly coloured hair for one," Laughing, Shiro stops at the front of the class. "Now, to introduce him," Turning to the door, Shiro calls out. "Oi, Itona! Come on in." Nagisa turns to the door as well, wondering what sort of person Itona is.

CRASH

There's a sound that's a thousand times of Manami falling off her chair, magnified by the fact that it's so close. Nagisa flinches, covering her ears at the loud sound of an explosion. Gasps and yells are extracted from the class around her, and Nagisa finally lifts her head, looking at the back of the class, noting the fact that most of the students closest to the back of the class have stood up and moved away from it, except Karma and Terasaka. The back wall has a giant gaping hole, with planks that were knocked away scattered around the classroom. One is by her foot, and Nagisa picks it up, observing the rough edges...it had been broken by pure force. Then she remembers the new student.

He sits in the desk between Karma and Terasaka, dressed in a red shirt and the standard Kunugigaoka blazer and slacks, a strange white fluffy stole around his neck. He's not _bad_ looking, only looking that he had been zapped with electricity, since he has hair so white, it looks a little blue, and not even mentioning the spiky, messy way it's arranged in. His eyes that are opened very wide and bloodshot, making it look as though he hadn't slept in a while. Couple that with a perfect posture, and an emotionless face, Nagisa has no idea what this student could be thinking of, or whether he _really_ had been zapped while using some electrical appliance earlier.

And then he speaks.

"I won," His voice is just as monotone as Ritsu's when she had first come to the classroom, only less mechanical. But what is he talking about? He won...? "I proved that I am stronger than the classroom wall."

What.

"Use the damn door!" Most of the class yells.

"And that's all that matters," The student continues...had Shiro said that his name was Itona? Itona, then. "That's all that matters."

Nagisa sees Yukiko, who is sitting two seats in front of Itona, turn to look at Kaede and her, making a strange expression that isn't quite a grimace, but isn't anywhere near a smile, either.

"Looks like we got ourselves another handful," Sugino mutters.

"Y-Yeah..." Kaede agrees, giving Yukiko an 'OMG' look.

"Even Korosensei doesn't know how to react," Nakamura whispers across the aisle.

"He's not smiling, he's not frowning, either..." Maehara grumbles.

Nagisa turns to look at their teacher and her jaw drops.

 _What's with that half-assed expression_?! She can't help but think.

"This is Horibe Itona," As though what Itona had done is completely the norm, Shiro carries on introducing him. "Please call him Itona."

 _A guardian clad in white, and a transfer student that's impossible to read..._ Nagisa glances at the both of them. _Is this what you mean by_ interesting _, Karma?_

"Hey, Itona-kun," Lounging in his chair and speaking in his usual mirth-filled tone, Karma _somehow_ manages to make it seem as though he is used to people entering classrooms by breaking the back wall. "Something's been bothering me," When Itona doesn't tell him to shut up, Karma continues. "You came in from outside, right? Empty-handed?" Peering through the hole in the wall, Nagisa notices the stormy weather outside for the first time. "It's raining buckets out there, yet there's not a drop of it on you." It's only then that Nagisa realises that what Karma says is true, and judging from the sharp intakes of breath from around the classroom, the rest of the class have noticed it too.

Instead of replying, Itona sweeps his eyes around the class, then stands, walking to Karma's desk. While the two boys sit next to each other, it seems to be a long distance, somehow.

"You are probably the strongest one in this class," Itona remarks. "But do not fret," Now, the strange white-haired male rests a hand on the top of Karma's head, like some misguided effect to soothe the redhead. "I have no interest in killing those weaker than me." Itona begins to pat Karma's head, bending down a bit.

"It looks like he's comforting a child," Kaede murmurs.

"Y-Yeah," Nagisa watches as Karma actually meets Itona's gaze without any sort of snarky remark.

"The only ones I want to kill," Turning away from Karma, Itona begins to walk to the front of the class. Instead of staring at him like the rest of her classmates, Nagisa glances at Karma out of the corner of her eyes, surprised when she sees him relax a bit. "Are those who could be stronger than me," Itona continues, stopping in front of Shiro and Korosensei. Speaking of Korosensei...in the short time that everyone had been focused on Itona, he had opened up the jelly bar and begun eating it. "And in this classroom, Korosensei..."

"Jelly of my jelly?" Korosensei replies.

 _What?_ Nagisa blinks in surprise.

"...That's you," Itona points at Korosensei.

"When you say 'strong' and 'weak', do you refer to fighting ability, Itona-kun?" Korosensei asks, smirking. "In terms of strength, you and I are worlds apart."

"We're closer than you think," Instead of getting annoyed, like most of the class would have been, Itona simply draws something out of his pocket. A jelly bar, much like the one Korosensei is eating now. "After all, we are brothers by blood."

Wait, what? Nagisa's jaw drops.

"Ehhh?!" The class yells. "B-B-B-B-Brothers?!"

Ripping open his bar of jelly with his teeth, Itona sounds a little amused as he speaks. "The loser dies, Nii-san. Siblings have no need for cheap tricks," Itona waves the jelly bar at Korosensei warningly. "Nii-san...I will kill you and prove my strength. We will face off in this classroom, after school. That is all." With that, Itona and Shiro step out of the classroom.

"Oi! Do you expect us to just fill up the hole you left in this classroom?!" Terasaka yells after them, slamming his hands against the table.

As a reply, Itona leans into the classroom, locking eyes with Terasaka. "Just plug it up using your body. There is no other purpose for an idiot like you," Then, seeming to only just notice Hazama, he gives her a small nod. "Be careful next time. Shiro and I will not always be there to pull you out of the river."

Hazama clicks her tongue, looking annoyed.

And Itona leaves the classroom, shutting the door behind him.

There's a moment of silence...

"OI, YOU SON OF A-" Seeming to only _just_ register what Itona had said, Terasaka leaps to his feet, shaking his fist.

"Wait just one second, Korosensei!" Okano yells, standing up like many of the class. "What's this about being brothers?!"

"Humans and octopuses-"

" _Octopi,_ " Chiba corrects.

"-Octopi have nothing alike!" Okajima shouts.

"No nonononononono," Korosensei holds up his tentacles in a defensive way. "I haven't the foggiest idea! I was born and raised an only child! When I asked my folks for a younger brother, things got really awkward!"

"And Hazama-chan!" Kurahashi calls. "What river was Itona-kun talking about?"

"Who knows," Hazama returns to her book.

"Wait, you have _parents_?!" Okajima gasps.

As the class continues to break into chaos, all Nagisa can think is...

 _Wow._

 _This is definitely_ interesting.

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"That's a lot of junk food," Karma comments, staring at Itona's table. It's lunch time, and Karma had joined Nagisa, Kaede, Manami, Sugino and Yukiko for lunch.

"Never mind the candy. Why are _you_ sitting with us?" Kaede complains, grabbing onto Nagisa's arm. "Whenever we're with you, Nagisa doesn't pay much attention to us."

"Is that why you're making her sit next to you?" Laughing, Karma reaches across the tables and tugs lightly on a lock of Nagisa's hair. Nagisa, Kaede and Manami sit on one side of the tables, Karma, Sugino and Yukiko on the other. "Not going to work~"

"Karma-kun, are you the one who put Sugino and Yukiko next to each other?" Cupping her hands around her mouth, Manami whispers the words across the tables.

"That would be Nagisa," Karma tells her.

"They're getting along really well, huh?" Nagisa laughs a little into her hand, glancing at Sugino and Yukiko, who are chatting animatedly.

"He needs to ask her out," Kaede mumbles.

"That would be interesting," Karma hums.

"Well, I think that they would be a good couple for sure," Nagisa lowers her voice.

"What you guys whispering about?" Sugino asks. The three girls immediately jump, and Karma only shrugs.

"About all that candy on Itona-kun's table," He answers.

"He's sure puttin' away that candy like no one's business," Nagisa overhears Maehara whisper. "He's got Korosensei's sweet tooth alright."

"They do have quite a lot of similarities," Pulling out a box of jelly beans (that Kaede immediately fixates on), Yukiko takes a single jelly bean out, placing it on the table. "Firstly, they both love junk food. Secondly," Yukiko places a second jelly bean next to the first. "They both attracted Terasaka-kun's negative attention-"

"Eh? Itona-kun picked a fight with the class delinquent?" Manami asks, shocked.

"Well, it's not like Terasaka's going to take this morning's comment in stride," Karma says airly. "He's too much of an idiot to. So he'll probably try to battle Itona-kun or something. He'll totally lose, though."

"I find Karma-san a little scarier than Terasaka-kun," Yukiko admits.

"No kidding," Sugino mutters.

After they say that, Nagisa turns to Karma and smiles, causing the redhead to chuckle quietly and hold his index finger to his lips. Not noticing the exchange, Yukiko places another jelly bean down. "Thirdly, they both have unreadable expressions."

"And fourthly!" Kaede snatches the box of jelly beans from Yukiko, tossing a few into her mouth. "They're both perverts."

"Huh?" Yukiko blinks in surprise, and Nagisa wonders what Kaede means.

"Look. They're both reading gravure mags," Manami points. Sure enough, Korosensei and Itona are pouring over gravure mags, both holding the same issue.

"His credibility just skyrocketed!" Okajima exclaims, standing up from where he's eating lunch.

"Y-You think so, Okajima-kun?" Nagisa asks, her eye twitching.

"Hell yeah!" Okajima holds up a magazine, the same as Korosensei and Itona. "All boob lovers are brothers!"

"So there's a third brother now, huh?" Sugino looks just as exasperated as Nagisa herself feels.

"If they're brothers, won't Korosensei know, though?" Kaede asks, returning the box of jelly beans to Yukiko.

"It might be something like this!" Appearing from nowhere, Fuwa sweeps into the conversation, beginning to tell a story of a kingdom under siege when Karma stops her.

"Whoa, that's completely illogical. For all you know, they could be half-brothers," Karma points out.

"You mean, Korosensei's mother ran off with a human?!" Sugino asks, eyes wide.

"Uh..." Covering her face with her hand, Nagisa lets out a soft sigh. "Not quite..."

" _Testo chubo babiesu_ (test tube babies),"Karma smirks, leaning back in his chair. "They could have similar DNA traits, which would make them sort-of brothers, if you want to push it."

There is a pause as everyone tries to comprehend what Karma had said.

"I literally have no idea what that means, but you're the smart one, so..." Fuwa raises her arms in an 'I surrender' pose, slowly sliding back to her own table.

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"Please arrange your desks in a ring," Standing at the head of the class, Kataoka begins directing everyone, Isogai helping out the rest of the class. "Sweep the floor if you've already moved yours...Yada-san, please refrain from taking any videos."

"But Megu-tan! This is going to be an epic showdown!" Yada whines.

"No. Shiro-san requested that we keep all electronic devices away from Itona, and that he would not be responsible if Itona broke them. The ring of desks is also his request."

"I wonder how it'll turn out," Nagisa says to herself as she moves her desk to the side of the room.

"Korosensei will win," Kaede reassures her, slotting her desk next to hers.

"But we'll have a grumpy, sarcastic person in class next," Sugino groans, shoving his desk on the other side of Nagisa's. "Not looking forward to _that_."

"I think it'll be interesting to have Itona-kun in class," Manami speaks up, bouncing up and down excitedly. "Terasaka-kun and Itona-kun look like they'd get along well!"

"Where'd you come up with that, Manami," Nagisa asks. After all, Terasaka had looked like he wanted to _kill_ Itona earlier, so how would they get along?

"Just...just a feeling," Slowly seeming to shrink, Manami plasters a smile on her face.

"Women's intuition, huh?" Yukiko giggles, joining them.

"I g-guess," Manami nods, beaming. "Wouldn't that be nice, though? To have a sarcastic person in our class. We don't really have one now..."

"Is that the only reason you want Itona-kun to join?" Sugino looks more than a little ticked off.

"Everyone, shush!" Kataoka suddenly shouts.

The whole class goes silent, and Itona and Shiro enter the room.

 _The epic face-off between Korosensei and Itona is about to start...!_

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Korosensei and Itona stand in the ring of desks, staring at each other.

Having flung off his blazer and stole, Itona is left in only a red tank top, his eyes still bloodshot and wide.

"You must be sick of plain old assassinations, Korosensei," Shiro calls, standing serenely outside of the ring, like he is watching fish swimming instead of two (maybe) brothers about to fight. "Why don't we set a rule? 'Stepping out of the ring means instant death.' How about it?"

"The hell?" Sugino murmurs, narrowing his eyes. "Like the loser would keep up his end of the bargain."

"No, for him to break a rule we all witnessed would damage our trust in him as a teacher," Voice completely serious, Karma provides an explanation. "That kind of restriction works perfectly well with this guy," It's a little strange to see Karma without his usual cocky smirk, not to mention with such uncertainty in his eyes.

"Very well," Korosensei says. "I accept your rule. However, Itona-kun, hurting the spectators will also result in a loss."

"Very well," Shiro consents. "Start on my signal..." Slowly, the white cloacked man lifts his hand. "Assassination..."

All around the class, concerned eyes watch the two 'brothers'. Even Irina and Karasuma are in the classroom, Irina staring worriedly while Karasuma showing little emotion.

"Begin!" Shiro brings down his hand in a cutting motion.

Immediately, Korosensei's tentacle-arm is sliced neatly off, soaring into the air.

However, no one's eyes are on the shorn-off arm, everyone all looking at one spot -

"It can't be..." If Korosensei could pale, he would be as white as a sheet.

Itona stands at the exact same spot he had started in, only there are tentacles whipping around, attached to his head.

"Tentacles?!"

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Nagisa's hand flies to her mouth.

"What the hell..." Next to her, Kaede's eyes are as wide as saucers, her hands also covering her wide open mouth.

"Itona-kun's hair..." Nagisa slowly muddles through what is _right in front of her_ eyes, her voice echoing around the classroom."Is tentacles...!"

"Oh," There's some tension in Karma's shoulders, even though he appears nonchalant in every other way. "So that's how he stayed dry empty-handed in the rain. He can bat away the drops with his tentacles."

"Where..."

Nagisa gasps, hardly recognising the gravelly, hard tone of the single word.

"Where did you get those...tentacles from?!" Korosensei growls out, looking as ticked off - if not more - as the time that Nagisa had done her assassination with the Terasaka gang. His face is completely pitch black, and it makes Nagisa shiver just looking at him.

"We're not obligated to tell you that, Korosensei," Shiro replies in a completely calm voice. "But this ought to have convinced you: You have different parents, and different upbringings, but you are nevertheless brothers," Then, Shiro tilts his head to the side. "My, what a scary face you're making. Did you perhaps remember something unpleasant?"

"It's almost like Shiro knows something about Korosensei," Kaede whispers to Nagisa, gripping the taller girl's arm.

"Y-Yeah..." Nagisa replies, wishing she had something to hold as well.

"It appears that you and I will need to have a little talk," Korosensei's arm regenerates.

"Unfortunately, you'll be dead by then," Lifting his arm, Shiro aims his wrist at Korosensei. A flash of glaring purple light comes out from his sleeve, shining directly at the poor teacher.

Nagisa flinches, covering her stinging eyes.

"Exposure to this pressure ray at close range triggers a dilatant behaviour in your cells," Shiro announces cooly, while Itona lashes out with his tentacles again, beginning a cycle of attacks. "We know everything about you. All your weak points."

When Itona wraps up his attacks, all that's left on the floor is a strange membrane, shaped like Korosensei...his skin.

"Did he get him?" Muramatsu asks.

"No," Terasaka mutters.

"Where's Korosensei?!" Kurahashi calls out frantically.

"Look up!" Okajima shouts.

Hanging off a ceiling light, Korosensei pants heavily.

"You've shed your skin?" Shiro seems unperturbed by this turn of events, continuing to speak. "That's right, you did have that trick up your sleeve. However, Korosensei," Itona takes a few steps until he's directly under Korosensei. "We also know the downside of that process."

Itona attacks again.

"Nyuya!" Korosensei shouts, dodging.

"Molting takes up more energy than one might expect."

Nagisa blinks.

 _Korosensei weak point #16: Vulnerable after molting_

"Consequently, the speed you're so proud of drops immediately after," Shiro explains, completely calm as Itona continues his attacks on Korosensei, lashing out with his tentacles as Korosensei dodges frantically.

"He sounds like a sadist radio announcer," Kaede grumbles.

"And you've grown back the arm that Itona took in his first surprise attack. That uses up quite a bit of stamina as well," _How does Shiro know so much about Korosensei?_ Nagisa wonders.

 _Korosensei weak point #17: Vulnerable after regeneration_

"By my calculations, you should be evenly matched physically around now," Korosensei seems to be moving slower, Nagisa notes, clutching Kaede's arm in return. "Moreover, the use of tentacles depends greatly on one's mental state."

 _Korosensei weak point #2: He loses his composure rather easily_

How is Itona keeping up all those attacks? How is _Korosensei_ dodging them, for that matter, while staying inside the ring?

"And when one considers the shock of being injured by an unexpected tentacle, it's obvious who's in the lead now," Shiro sounds mildly amused as he lifts his arm again. "Furthermore, he has the support of a devoted guardian," The glaring purple light is back, shining directly on Korosensei, who promptly freezes up.

 _Korosnesei weak point #18: Hardens upon exposure to a special beam_

Taking the opportunity, Itona forms his tentacles into a fan, then slashes at Korosensei...

This time he doesn't manage to dodge entirely.

Korosensei loses his leg tentacles.

Laughing a warm, rich, laugh, a laugh that _should not_ be on a fight scene, Shiro starts speaking again. "Now you'll have to grow your legs back, too. That will drop your stamina even further, making you even easier to kill."

Korosensei collapses, panting.

"What a relief," Itona stands in front of Korosensei, his face impassive as ever, not even a bead of sweat on his brow. "Turns out I'm stronger than you, Nii-san."

 _He's got Korosensei on the ropes!_ Relaxing slightly, Nagisa releases her hold on Kaede's arm. _If they kill him, they'll save the world._

 _And yet...why am I so disappointed?_ Reaching into her waistcoat, Nagisa pulls out her knife, staring at the green blade sadly. _They're zeroing into weak point after weak point, like they know his every move._

 _But honestly, we wanted to find those out ourselves..._ Nagisa pulls out her notebook, the one she had recorded all Korosensei's weaknesses in. She closes her eyes, and feels Kaede start tightening her grip on her arm.

We _wanted to be the ones to kill him!_ Nagisa's knuckles turn white with how hard she's gripping the knife.

"Your legs have regenerated, I see," Shiro walks around the rings of desks to get a better look at Korosensei, panting heavily and slowly standing.

"It's the first time anyone's pushed me so hard," Korosensei breathes out between pants, then stands straight, seemingly completely unaffected except for the tired note in his voice. "But it's all been so carefully calculated. There's a lot I'd like to ask you two, but I won't get a chance unless I win this first."

"You still think you can win? The bluster of a cornered octopus, no more."

"There is one thing you forgot to take into account, Shiro-san," Korosensei lifts his tentacle, pointing right at the white cloaked man.

"There is not. My methods are impeccable," Shiro replies.

Suddenly, Nagisa realises that she can't feel her arm. Kaede had been gripping it so tight, she cut off Nagisa's blood circulation.

"K-Kaede..." Nagisa hisses, still holding her knife and notebook.

"Kill him," Shiro commands.

Nagisa's eyes widen.

Itona leaps into the air, using drill-like tentacles to stab into Korosensei...

Flinching, Nagisa squeezes her eyes shut. She doesn't want to see Korosensei die, not when they all want to kill him...

Gasps fill the classroom.

"Nagisa!" Kaede whisper-shouts, sounding baffled.

Carefully, Nagisa opens her eyes.

Korosensei's corpse is not on the ground.

On the contrary...

Itona's tentacles are all shorn-off, and Korosensei is saying...something, something Nagisa isn't paying attention to because there are anti-sensei knives on the floor, clearly the cause of Itona's loss of tentacles. _Wait-!_ Nagisa stares at her hands. She's only holding her notebook, not her knife.

 _When did Korosensei...?!_

In the time she hadn't been paying attention, Korosensei had dropped his molted skin on Itona, wrapping him up in it. "If our tentacles are the same, then these anti-sensei knives should work the same too," Korosensei announces, lifting Itona up. "And the loss of a tentacle unnerves us both. However...I'm a little more seasoned than you," Now, Korosensei draws back his arm, as if aiming. And he flings Itona towards the windows, breaking the glass and window panes completely, and Nagisa watches with indescribable shock as Itona _bounces_ off the floor a few times, looking completely unharmed. "You should be unharmed, wrapped in my old skin like that," Korosensei says. "But your feet are outside the ring. I win. As per the rules, you die," Korosensei's face becomes green-striped, and he lets out an obnoxious laugh. "Nurufufufufufufufufufu..."

Itona growls, ripping off the skin.

"If you really want to live, stay with the other students of this class," Korosensei says, gentler now. "And learn something that can't be measured by just crunching numbers: The difference that experience makes. I've lived just a little longer than you, and come to know a bit more. I became a teacher because I wanted to pass that on to you all. If you don't take this experience from me in this classroom, you'll never be able to beat me."

"I...I can't?" Itona's eyes are red, red, red. It's a frightening sight... "I'm...weak?!"

"This isn't good," Shiro sighs. "Itona absolutely despises studying. And lecturing a child who hates to study..." Itona's tentacles turn black, and look more deadly than before. "...could result in genocide!"

"Black tentacles?" Nakamura whispers.

"Crap! He's gone off the deep end!" Maehara yelps.

"I'm strong," Itona whispers. "These tentacles make me stronger than the rest...! All the rest!" With that, Itona leaps back towards the classroom, diving to attack Korosensei, when-

There's a soft sound of a trigger being pulled, and then Itona is on the ground, passed out.

"My apologies, Korosensei," Shiro hums, his arm up and angled at Itona. Nagisa can clearly see a gun poking out of his sleeve. "Seems as if this child wasn't mentally prepared for school. I know it's his first day and all," Shiro walks towards Itona, picking him up and slinging him over his shoulder. "But he'll be taking a little break."

"Wait! I can't just let that student go! I'm his teacher! And..." Korosensei growls. "Shiro-san...I have a lot I want to ask you."

"Sorry, but no. We're leaving. Well, you can try to stop us by force," Beginning to walk away, Shiro pays no further mind to the students. Korosensei reaches out and touches Shiro's shoulder, but jumps as his tentacle begins to melt. "Anti-teacher fibers. You literally _cannot_ touch me. Don't worry, though. He'll be back before long. March is right around the corner, after all. I'll take on the task of tutoring him at home."

 _With that, Itona and Shiro leave the class._

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"How embarrassing, how mortifying," Korosensei moans into his hands.

Around him, the class buzzes with life, cleaning up after the strange face-off.

("There's tentacle gunk all over the floor!" Okajima complains.

"Aww man!")

"What's up with Korosensei?" Kataoka asks, dragging her desk back into it's original position.

"Dunno, he's been like that for a while," Okano shrugs, dragging her chair behind her.

"I'm ashamed to have participated in such a serious development," Korosensei explains. "I'm far more suited to comic relief!"

"You sure got good and mad," Hazama says in her low voice. "'Where did you get...those tentacles?!'" She bellows, imitating Korosensei.

"Nooo!" Korosensei shrieks. "Please don't say that, Hazama-san! Just hearing those words again makes me want to run to the hills! I'm the evasive air head type! That's my selling point!" Weeping into his hands, Korosensei attracts quite a few exasperated glances. "Showing my serious side would just ruin my characterisation!"

"It's annoys me that you're carefully managing your charactor..." Sugino sighs.

 _Korosensei weak point #19: Gets embarrassed in the aftermath of serious scenes_

"Don't be so dramatic, Korosensei," Yada chides, picking up a desk in the corner of the room. "You should help us!"

"Still, wasn't that quite a surprise?" At Bitch-sensei's voice, everyone jumps. No one had noticed the normally attention grabbing blonde near the front door of the classroom. "Who'd have expected that Itona boy to have tentacles?"

"Oh, I knew," Hazama raises her hand, her dark eyes comeplete emotionless.

"Eh?!" Dropping the chair she's holding, Kurahashi dashes over to Hazama, grabbing her arms. "You knew, Kira-"

"Hazama."

"Hazama-chan? And you didn't say anything?!" Kurahashi begins shaking the other girl, making Hazama heave a giant sigh.

"Go away. I'm about to starve here..."

"Come on, Korosensei. Tell us," Okajima starts.

"How are you connected to those two?" Mimura asks.

"You've always dodged questions about yourself..." Hayami states.

"That's right! We're your students, aren't we?" Kataoka crosses her arms. "Don't we have a right to know about our teacher at all?"

"There's no helping it," Korosensei sighs. "I guess I'll have to tell you the truth...the truth is..." Nagisa holds her breath, leaning forward. What would Korosensei reveal? "I'm an artificial life form!" He announces grandly, sweeping out with his tentacle.

There's a silence as the class waits for more.

"Well, duh," Okano says.

"And?" Kataoka prompts.

"What kind of reaction is that?!" Korosensei protests.

As the class begins to list out evidence, Nagisa ghosts a hand over her arm, which is still tingling.

Earlier on...when Kaede had been gripping it...she had also had an expression of pure hatred as she stared at Shiro.

"We want to know what else happened, Korosensei. Why did you get so angry when you saw Itona-kun's tentacles?" When the class had quietened a little, Nagisa speaks up. "Why were you created, and...why did you decide come here?" Recalling something from earlier that year, Nagisa hesitates, then speaks. "Does...does it have something to do with why Yukimura-sensei stopped teaching?"

Korosensei doesn't say anything for a moment, then he waggles a finger at Nagisa. "Sorry, but there's no point in telling you that now. After all, if I destroy the earth, everything as you know would be as dust in the wind," Several of her classmates grit their teeth, obviously annoyed. "On the other hand...if you save the earth, you'll have plenty of opportunities to learn the truth. If you want to know more, there's only one thing you can do: kill me. Assassin and Target. Those are the ties that bind us together. If you're looking for answers to the big questions about me, the only way you can get them is through assassinations. If no one has any more questions, we are done for the day. See you again tomorrow."

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"Who here thinks they would like extra lessons from Karasuma-sensei?" Isogai calls.

The whole class raises their hands.

"Then come," Kataoka gestures to the tall teacher, standing in the courtyard outside. "Let's go ask him."

"That damned octopus," Karma sighs.

Nagisa shrugs, then tugs on Karma's sleeve. "Come on, we're going to be left behind," she points are their class, swarming outside.

"What brings you all here? Quite the crowd, I see," Karasuma remarks as they all approach him.

"Um..." Isogai starts off a little soft, then clears his throat. "Can you teach us more assassination skills?"

"Hmm?" Karasuma seems surprised. "More than you already know?"

"We always figured that _somebody_ would end up killing Korosensei," Yada says firmly. "So we didn't take it seriously ourselves." Clearly, the whole class has the same feelings on this.

"Yeah. But when we saw Itona, we realised...we don't want it to just be anyone," Maehara adds. " _We_ want to be the ones to kill him."

"If they bring in another tough assassin..." Mimura states. "We'll lose track of what all our hard work was for!"

"That's why we want to kill our teacher the best we can in the time we have left," Kataoka sums up.

"We want to kill him, and find the answers ourselves!" Isogai declares.

Karasuma stares at them a while, then he smiles, looking proud. "I understand. Interested students can stay back after school for extra training. It won't be easy...let's start with climbing our new rope!" Jabbing his thumb at the long rope hanging from a tree branch, Karasuma wears an expression of sadism.

"That's tough!" The class yells.

 _Class 3E in Kunugigaoka Junior high is the assassination classroom._

 _The rain has let up, and tomorrow; the bell will signal the start of another new day._

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 **I can't help feeling like this chapter was really bland, though...**

 **Just can't change too much...but I thought that some character development for Hazama was long overdue, so the extra is about her...:P (IT'S SUPER WEIRD, SORRY! I wasn't sure how to write from Kirara's point of view! And it's a little emo...)**

 **Oh well...IT CAME OUT ON TIME (mostly) SO I'M HAPPY ABOUT THAT**

 **Review replies ~~**

 _ **IllusionofLove:**_ _(whoa your username's really cool!) Haha, Irina is an amazing character to me (lol) that's why I tried to alter her story arc ^^_

 ** _HappyGuy:_** _I would love to do more fluff *sighs* as soon as I see another chapter that gives me that chance, I AM GOING TO FLUFF IT INTO A PUFF BALL_

 ** _Guest (IS YOU MARSHMALLOW?!):_** _The ending took me very long to write...sorry! Hmm, I'm not much of a gamer (besides RPG games and some arcade games) so I guess you're a lot more experienced in stuff like that. Haha, it's nice that you can converse with people about gaming lol XD (I'M NOTING THE SPACE LOL) and the original three starters are great man -_- Maybe they're not needed in the new region, but stilllll :P_

 _No, Nagisa living in England isn't cannon, just a little touch that I thought would be fun...and haha, do you remember the episode/chapter where Korosensei brings everyone around the world? Nurufufufufufufufu, let's just say that the Air Korosensei will be going England for sure XD_

 _Aww man, I got scolded I really tried this time! Serious! Look forward for an update on friday...well, my friday. Maybe your thursday? ANYWAY, I'll definitely designate writing days!_

 ** _FRWT:_** _Karma! By decree of Yada Touka_

 ** _Shiranai Atsune:_** _Haha XD Thankksss :3 (oh, and look forward to when Asasno comessss)_

 ** _Danget the critic:_** _Jealous Karma will be appearing several times throughout the story and well, you're not the only one who thinks that it's hilarious XD several other people wanted to see (Here, the jealousy would definitely pop out with the Yuuji thing, and expect it around when Asano comes, by request of Shiranai Atsune)_

 ** _FlamingAngel525:_** _Yay! Thankssss :3 Write a fanfiction, then XD I'll definitely read it if you do! And jeez I hope the rest of the backstory will be as well recieved..._

 ** _Lizzy7258:_** _Thank you! Yeah, Karma's pretty cute when it comes to Nagisa, Nurufufufufufufufu...I'm glad you liked the last chapter!_

 ** _GingerHale:_** _AHHH! AHHH! YOU'RE BACK! (did I already flip out about this? Allow me to flip out even more) I'M SORRY :( I think dollhouse really made everyone sad, jeez! And *ahem* Well, they were pretty asshole-ish, huh? Well, I had to stick to cannon...if not... *clears throat* that is...yeah! WHOA BRUSH YOUR TEETH TO COUNTER THE CAVITIES OMG! A dog...? PAT IT ON THE HEAD FOR ME PLS! Nagisa being more BAMF...*looks away* we'll see XD_

 ** _CurlyCarrotHead:_** _No one important ^^_

 ** _OneWhoCharms:_** _Haha, glad to hear that :D Thanks :3_

 ** _Amaya Kuruta:_** _:O Sounds pretty bad :P It's nice that you're home, though XD Yeah! Karma's first! I think Isogai's third, but if you factor in their personalities and stuff, Isogai is first, then Maehara XD Oh! Karma's voice actor's going to be at AFA this year! I can't wait :D Nagisa's father's opinion is a little bit on the bad side on Karma, but it's the matter of who Nagisa likes, and not who her father likes soooo :P Haha, that's good!_ _*hug*_

 ** _Xenocanaan:_** _Thank you! Everyone seems to like the last chapter (lol) Yeah, it works out for them *bounces up and down*_

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 _Extras:_

 _Hazama Kirara and the two strange people_

 ** _Warnings: A little angsty and emo? Definitely strange._**

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There are many things that Kirara doesn't like.

Her mother is top of that list, followed by her name, but coming in twenty-second is definitely rain.

The weather had been gloomy, but dry (like her personality) when she left the house, but had begun pouring as soon as she reached the mountain. Thankfully, she had carefully put the current book she had been reading (something interesting called the darkest minds) in a ziplock bag, waterproofing it, before she dumped it in her bag.

So with that, Kirara is forced to climb a mountain to get to school in the pouring rain, without an umbrella, _and_ she is _late_. All her stupid mother's fault, throwing a tantrum earlier that morning...still...

Squaring her shoulders, Kirara covers her head with her school bag, beginning the long, slow, trek up the steep slope of the mountain.

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Idiot.

That is the first word that pops into her head.

Kirara, in all her dark idiocy, had decided to cross the swelling river while it is raining. The river is normally a small trickle of water, but swells up to something, frankly, frightening when it rained. It reminded her of a cobra, curling in wait, seeming innocent, then lashing out when some unsuspecting person pokes it with a stick.

And today, Kirara seems to be that person.

It had been fine, at first. Kirara had walked across the half-broken bridge, then decided to test her physical ability in the long jump to try leaping across the section of river that is not covered by a bridge.

It is a short jump, maybe ninety centimetres to a metre, but Kirara has clearly overestimated her ability.

She crashes into the river, and the only thing she can think of is...

Well, she hopes that her book is still dry.

Being as physically incapable as she is, Kirara closes her eyes, allowing the river to sweep her along it's dangerous path.

After being flung from bank to bank, Kirara is sure that she is close to death...so close...she can even feel the darkness that stains human hearts nearby...how delicious that darkness would taste...!

"...rescue it?" She hears someone say, somewhere near her.

 _No, leave me,_ she feels like screaming. The darkness...it's so near...!

"If you wish," another voice replies.

Suddenly, Kirara feels something soft wrap itself around her waist. She shudders, thrashing. _The darkness...!_

"It doesn't seem to want to be rescued. Can I toss it away?" The first voice asks.

"No, you've saved it, you should go the whole way."

"And this is the last time I'd do something like this."

Kirara feels herself set gently on the wet ground, the soft thing retracting from her waist.

Interesting.

From the two voices, they're obviously male, and definitely strange. One sounds around her age, but a little mature, while the other voice sounds like a middle age man's.

"It's a girl," The first voice observes. "Not pretty. Girls are pretty gross, if they don't have much boobs."

Kirara almost scowls. Instead, she opens her eyes.

"Ah, she's alive," The second voice hums, seeming pleased. "Are you alright, miss?"

Kirara doesn't reply, instead staring at her two saviours. One is a boy, her age. He has tentacles sprouting from the top of his head, and he's wearing a red muscle tank. His tentacles whip around at a fast pace, but that isn't what interests Kirara.

There is so much _darkness_ in this boys heart. Kirara practically salivates just _looking_ at it. How she would like a taste...!

But now isn't the time.

"I am fine," Kirara replies, turning to look at the second saviour.

He is stranger, a man entirely dressed in white, holding an umbrella over himself.

There is even _more_ darkness in his heart...how enticing...

"You from Kunugigaoka?" The boy her age asks.

"Yes."

"Class 3E?" The man sounds surprised. "You look too smart to be in that class."

"Looks mean nothing," Standing, Kirara peels her wet skirt, which had stuck to her skin, from her thighs. "And yes, I am in the infamous E class."

"Is that so? We're heading there, so how about we walk you up?" The man suggests. "Will that be alright, Itona?"

"She saw my tentacles. Can I kill her?" The boy, Itona, asks.

"No," The man replies, letting out a laugh. "The rest of your class will see them, with time. All you need to do is make sure she doesn't say anything."

"I can keep secrets," Kirara supplies, pulling the wet strands of hair away from where they have stuck to her face. "Very well. Walk me up." At the most, she will learn who is this strange man in white, or what the boy, Itona, is here to do. At the very least, she will get a nice snack of human darkness.

"Were you suiciding?" Itona asks suddenly. "We saw you jump into the river voluntarily."

"No," Kirara tilts her head back, staring up at the gray sky, that seems to be weeping tears for her. She thinks of her mother, screaming and screaming that morning. "Tsk."

"Don't tsk at me," Itona growls softly.

"You know, there is a friend in class that I think you would get along well with," Kirara tells Itona, mostly to shut him up.

"I don't plan on getting along with anyone."

"That's too bad. Neither did I, and I just used the word friend."


	13. Chapter 13

_Chapter 13:_

 _Girl's basketball and other chaotic_ _occurrences_

 **OR**

 _Ball Game Tournament Time!_

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"The rainy season is finally over!" Nagisa beams, rolling over on her bed, her handphone pressed to her ear.

"Isn't that great, Nagisa?" Karma laughs over the line, sounding amused.

"Yes! With the humidity gone, Korosensei won't have a swollen head anymore, and the cold but humid air that comes with the rain won't force us to bundle up when it's stuffy," Nagisa blurts out all in a single breath. "And because there's no more rain, my mother's schedule will no longer be a mess and she'll be happier, and that means you can maybe visit soon, but that also means that there'll be no more puddles."

"That made no sense, Nagisa," Karma tells her after a beat of silence.

"Eh? Did it not? Sorry, I'm a little excitable," Nagisa smiles, sitting up properly.

"Well, I'm glad the rainy season's over too," Karma drawls. "I mean, my mother kept complaining about how her hair was frizzy. Suuuper annoying. She wanted me to buy her hair products while I was hanging out with...you know, them all?"

"You mean your 'delinquent' friends?" When she hears Karma's exasperated sigh, Nagisa lets out a giggle.

"They're hardly delinquents," Karma grumbles. "Not any more than I am."

"So, a lot?" Nagisa teases. When Karma doesn't reply, she exhales softly. "Well, I liked most of them, but it's too embarrassing to meet them again. After the thing last year."

"No kidding," Sounding back to his normal self, Karma begins to snicker. "When _my rittlu shortucaku_ was too intimidated and couldn't-"

"Geez!" Groaning, Nagisa brings the phone away from her ear. "Who's fault was that?" She huffs.

"Mine?"

"Yes!" Then, Nagisa blinks in surprise, staring at her phone screen. "Oh! Kataoka-san is calling me."

"Is she? You better pick up...hey, Isogai-kun's calling me too," Karma makes a clicking noise with his tongue. "Can we not pick up?"

"Don't be silly, Karma," Nagisa taps a few button, quickly texting Kataoka to wait a second. "I'm hanging up, then."

"M'kay, whoever's done first, text the other person. Bye bye, s _hortucaku._ "

"Yes, bye bye, Karma," Nagisa hangs up on Karma and picks up Kataoka's call. "Hello, Kataoka-san. Is something the matter?"

"Ah, Nagisa! You finally picked up," Kataoka lets out a loud puff of air. "I was hoping you hadn't got to sleep yet."

"Is something the matter?" Nagisa repeats. "It's unlike you to call after nine."

"Well, the thing is, you know the inter-class ball game tournament? As class 3E, we have to play exhibition matches against the respective school clubs...baseball for the boys; girl's basketball for us girls?" Kataoka asks.

"Yes, did something happen?" Nagisa asks.

"Unfortunately, Nakamura, that _idiot_ ," Kataoka all but spits, sounding as livid as...as Nagisa's mother on her bad days. "Somehow managed to influence Yada-san to make a bet with the B class and C class females."

"A bet?" Nagisa echoes. _Kataoka's sounding pretty angry_ , Nagisa thinks to herself. _Good luck, Nakamura-san._ "What are the terms of the bet?"

"If we win the bet, Classes B and C will have to pay us heavy compensation monetarily," Kataoka seethes. "While if we lose, Yada-san will have to serve the B and C classes as a slave and have to do _any_ thing _any_ one orders her to do. Do you get what I'm worried about...?"

"...Nakamura-san...why?!" Nagisa groans, climbing off her bed. _Seriously?!_

"I know right? And to make matters worse..."

"How can this situation get any worse?!"

"On the girl's basketball team, there is a massive girl. She normally sits out games, because she is their trump card," Kataoka narrates in an ominous tone. "She is only played if the situation demands for her. For us to win-"

"We don't have to _beat_ her, do we?!" Nagisa yelps.

"No, we just need to get her played on court. Which is easier said than done. Last year, she had only been played twice."

"Well, that's a small relief..." Nagisa sits at her study table, pulling out an empty notebook. As she does, a thought strikes her. Why is Kataoka calling _her_ of all people? She is pretty average in their class, after all. "May I ask if you are calling everyone to tell them about this?"

"No, I'm not. This is a girl's problem, us girls will handle it on our own," Kataoka says firmly. "But I'm calling you because you're one of the most observant girls in our class, and I need your help to put together an ultimate team for basketball."

 _Most observant?_

 _Ultimate team?_

"Eh?" Nagisa asks blankly.

"You're actually really sharp, right, Nagisa? You seem to have pretty good instincts, and you have a good brain," Is it just Nagisa who gets worried if someone is to suddenly praise her? "Well, tomorrow, how about you test all the girls to see who will be best to play in the exhibition match? I'll let them all know, so would you...uh..."

"So I'm like the manager?" Nagisa mutters, more to herself than Kataoka.

"Of sorts, yes. I'll help you out, naturally-"

"There's no need," Nagisa stares at her empty notebook. "I can handle this, Kataoka-san. You're always doing everything on your own, right? Don't worry. For a game of basketball, kinetic vision, speed, reflexes, spatial calculation...a lot of those are essential. Even then, you don't need people who have a combination of all, just some. Those should be easily tested. I think I'll be able to come us with the required material by tomorrow."

"Are...are you sure, Nagisa? I can help, really-"

"It's fine," Nagisa reassures her. "I don't mind at all." Besides, Nagisa wants to help now. Their class...all the fun times can be ruined if they lose this bet...say Yada is forced to do something cruel to them by the B and C class...will the class still be able to trust her, bet or no bet?

"A-All right...I'll contact the girls and tell them to stay back after school, then..." Kataoka says slowly.

"Yes, good bye, and have a good night," Nagisa hangs up, leaning back in her chair.

 _Jeez..._

Then, she gets a text.

 _Shortcake, I'm going over. - K_

Smiling, she types a reply.

 _(ﾉ^ヮ^)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧_ _I was just about to suggest you come visit. I would like your help ( ^_^;;) - N_

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"Nagisa and Kayano can't walk back with us?" Sugino asks, the next day, after school.

"No, sorry," Nagisa smiles apologetically. "Us girls are holding an emergency meeting. It's very important, but I would like you to make sure that Karma doesn't do anything stupid...can you help me with that, Sugino?"

"But your boyfriend's so...so scary," Sugino whines.

"Sorry..." Nagisa bows, then jumps when she hears someone calling her. _Well...it gives her a reason to head back to class..._ "I'm really sorry! Thank you, Sugino!"

"Eh?! N-Nagisa!"

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"Why do I have to walk back with you all?" Maehara asks grouchily.

He, Karma, Sugino, Chiba and Isogai are walking through the main campus, and Maehara seems to have a problem with that.

"Because the girls are having an important meeting, and we saw Karma, Chiba and Sugino here walking down the mountain and we decided to walk with them," Isogai replies.

"You mean _you_ decided to walk with them," Maehara grumbles.

"You're welcome to go ahead first," laughing, Isogai ducks as Maehara tries to elbow him. "But if you do, aunty will think that we're fighting or something similar."

"Shit youuuuuuuuuu," Maehara groans.

"You two are so weird," Karma comments.

"Nah, we're just really close," Maehara throws an arm around Isogai. "Right, Yuma?"

"I'm still wondering what on earth possessed my brain when I was a lot younger to befriend this hooligan, but yes, we are very close," Isogai agrees...well, it at least sounds like he agrees.

"Hey!"

"Though, now that the rainy season's over, and it's getting warmer, it's the time for outdoor activities," Sugino cuts in before the two boys can further their argument. "Do you have any plans for the class, Isogai?"

"Oh, Kataoka and I were wondering if you guys would want some class outings," Isogai admits. "If you did, a trip to a karaoke place would be nice, right?"

"Or we could go fishing!" Karma suggests.

"Sounds good," Isogai laughs. "Some of the class might not like it, though-"

"Oh please, it's _fishing_ ," Maehara snorts, bumping his shoulder against Isogai's in a friendly manner. "No one can hate fishing, right?"

"It's interesting," Chiba speaks up, startling everyone, who had forgotten about him. "But what is even in season now?"

"Yankees!" Karma declares. "Use Nagisa-chan, or Kayano-san and we've got ourselves some bait!"

"No," The other four boys immediately say.

Laughing slightly, Karma waves his hand dismissively. "Then what would be good?"

"The beach, maybe?" Maehara sniggers. "Then you can see all the girls in our class in swim suits..."

"Hiroto," Isogai scolds.

"The beach, huh?" Karma hums.

"Doesn't sound like such a bad idea," Chiba agrees.

As the other boys continuing walking and talking, Sugino slows down. They are walking past the baseball court now...stopping his feet, Sugino watches as a familar figure throws a fastball.

Shindo Kazutaka, the current captain of the baseball club.

"Sugino?" Isogai asks, somewhere in front of him.

Instead of responding, Sugino carries on staring at the baseball club.

Unfortunately, Shindo notices him.

"Well, if it isn't Sugino!" He calls, waving really big. "Long time no see!"

"What, really?" One of the baseball club members gasps.

"Hey, it's Sugino!"

"Sugino!"

"Hello!"

Sugino swallows. Well, at least Shindo and the rest of the team are being civil. Mustering up his courage, he walks up to the chainlink fence that surrounds the court, plastering a smile onto his face.

"Hey, Sugino!"

"What gives, you could come and say 'hi' once in a while, you know?"

Laughing a little awkwardly, Sugino grins wider. "Nah, it'll be a little awkward, you know?"

"You're pitching in next weeks tournament, right?" One of the other members ask.

 _Tournament...the intra-class ball game tournament..._ Sugino crosses his arms, smiling. "Well, I guess it hasn't been decided yet, but I'd like to."

"We'll be looking forward to it!" Another member crows, punching their fist against the chainlink of the fence.

"Sure thing!" Sugino mimics his enthusiasm, bumping his fist against the member's through the chain.

So far, so good. Maybe he'll make it though this without a mention of the E Class.

"But man, I envy you, Augino."

"You're in the E Class, so you get to goof off every day."

 _Spoke too soon..._

"We've got school work _and_ practise, so we're practically running on fumes."

Gritting his teeth, Sugino looks away.

"Knock it off. That's not fair," Shindo commands. "Only the chosen few can be expected to juggle both school work _and_ extracurriculars at a prep school."

"The _chosen_ , huh?" Maehara scoffs. "Sounds like the name of some terrible reality tele-v show.

"Eh, that's incredible," Karma's familar drawling voice speaks up from behind Sugino, startling him. "So I suppose that you're one of the chosen, huh?" Sugino blinks in surprise, glancing at his sides, where his friends flock him.

"That's right, I am," Shindo says proudly, smirking. Sugino clenches his jaw, and by the sound of it, so does Maehara. "Don't like it? Then how about we show you at the tournament. There are the chosen, who stands at the top, and then there is everyone else," Shindo and the rest of the baseball team seem to grow larger, looking down on them. "You'll see that there's already a world of difference between us."

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"We will be beginning the tests now," Kataoka announces, standing in front of all the girls in class. Most of the girls are in their PE clothes, but a few of them are still in their school uniform. "Nagisa will be taking notes for each one of you. We will be trying to build an _ultimato cheamu(ultimate team)._ "

"Oh! And I'd like to thank everyone for helping me," Yada mumbles, raising her hand shyly. "I'm sorry I made the bet, really..."

"It's fine," Hara reassures Yada, patting her on the shoulder. "It's not like we can stand to the side and watch you be exploited."

"To make it worse, you're really pretty," Okano sighs, running her fingers through her messy, short brown hair.

"Indeed, imagine what the B class and C class boys would do if you have to submit to them absolutely," Hayami agrees.

Nagisa shuddered. She had thought about that too.

"And anyway, this is all Nakamura's fault, right?" Hayami continues, giving the sheepish blonde girl a death glare.

"Sumire-san...Hinata-san...Rinka-san..." Yada looks overwhelmed, tearing up.

"Ahem," Clearing her throat, Kataoka interrupts the touching moment. "Let's begin. Nagisa?"

Starting, Nagisa clears her throat a little awkwardly. "A-Ah, right...uh, Hazama-san will be testing stamina and dribbling, Hara-san will be testing agility and passes, Okuda-san will be testing shooting..."

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By the time all the tests are over, most of the girls are collapsed on the ground of the courtyard. While Nagisa _does_ feel a little guilty for overworking them, she shoves that thought to the back of her mind. The tests are necessary...but that doesn't mean she can't apologise.

"Sorry, they didn't have any non-tiring tests," Nagisa apologises, flipping through her notes. As she expected, the girls in her class are pretty athletic.

"It's fine. Who's in the team?" Kataoka asks, one of the few girls, besides the ones who had been helping with the test, still standing.

"A-Ah...Ka-Kataoka-san, O-Okano-san," Strangely, Nagisa feels nervous. With all the girls now looking at her, she hopes that what she says will not upset anyone. "Nakamura-san, Kae...Kayano-san-

" _Kayano?!_ " Comes Fuwa's surprised yelp.

"Yes. It turns out that Kaede-chan is pretty athletic," Nagisa beams, looking though Kaede's scores. "But as I was saying...Kayano-san or Fuwa-san, since the two of them have similar levels of...never mind, and Hayami-san. Oh, and maybe Yada-san. Those will be the main players. The reserves will be...uh...Kurahashi-san, Ma- uh, Okuda-san and Yu - Kanzaki-san. Hara-san and Hazama-san said that they don't really want to play...but Hazama is really good at strategizing, so..."

"Hah?!" Nakamura sits up. "Okuda's playing?"

"Well, of course!" Okuda exclaims, holding onto a clipboard.

"But you were one of the testers," Nakamura gapes at her.

"That doesn't mean-"

"ANYWAY!" Kataoka calls. "Is there anyone who has experience in basketball?" A silence from the girls gives her her answer. "Very well. Shall I be in charge of coaching, then?"

"OK," The girls chorus.

"Anyway, that's today finished. Dismissed, everyone."

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That night, Nagisa is surprised when she receives a phone call from Sugino.

"Who's it?" Karma asks, lying on the floor of bedroom and reading a thick book...on biochemistry.

"Sugino..." Nagisa blinks several times, and rubs her eyes. Sugino isn't good at talking over the phone, so he usually texts.

" _What, really_?" Karma sits up, closing the book. "You better pick it up, then."

"Y-Yes..." Nagisa presses the green 'answer' button, and holds the phone to her ear, tensing slightly when Karma clambers onto her bed and sits next to her, resting his head against hers so that he can hear Sugino as well. "Hello? Sugino? What's wrong?"

"Hey, Nagisa...did you hear about the baseball thing?" Sugino asks, sounding tired.

"No? Unless you mean the exhibition match?" Nagisa frowns, wondering what else he could be talking about.

"Ah...so you haven't heard," Sugino sighs. "The thing is...while I was walking back yesterday, with Maehara, Isogai, Karma and Chiba...I kinda saw the baseball team-"

"Oh...Sugino," Nagisa says softly.

"Yeah. The thing is, they were talking to me all friendly and I was thinking, whoa, this is great, when suddenly everyone starts firing burns at the E class, as usual, and then Shindo, you remember him?" Yes, Nagisa can remember Shindo Kazutaka, the captain and ace of the baseball team. A totally pretentious guy. Sugino sighs. "So Karma and Maehara got mad for me, but Shindo sort of challenged us for the sports tournament."

Nagisa's jaw drops. "Sugino, you did _what_?"

"Shindo challenged the E Class-"

"Alright, alright, uh...first things first...did you guys bet anything?" Nagisa asks frantically. She already has to deal with Yada's bet, and she would despise it if Sugino had somehow bet his soul and everyone else's in the class. And secondly, do you think you can win against them?"

"No, and yes," Sugino says at the same time Karma whispers the very same words into her ear.

"Alright...wait, why did you call me?" Nagisa frowns, suddenly wondering that. "You could have mentioned this over text-"

"Because I need to know what to do...I'm so worried!" Sugino exclaims, and Nagisa guesses that he's pacing.

"Well, what do you want to do?" She asks.

Sugino goes silent.

"What do I want to do...?" Sugino murmurs, before bursting into peals of laughter. "Thanks, Nagisa! You're great! See you tomorrow!"

"Huh?" Nagisa stares at her phone screen, the turns to Karma. "He hung up."

"That means that you helped?" Karma shrugs.

"Anyway, what did you and Maehara-kun say to Shindo-kun?" Nagisa frowns, crossing her arms.

"Nothing for you to worry your cute little head about."

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 _The next day..._

"Mmhm...an intra-school ball game tournament, is it?" Korosensei grips a leaflet, looking absorbed in reading the print. "Cultivating healthy minds and bodies through sports...most excellent," Isogai stands behind Korosensei, writing something on the board. "But, why isn't the E class listed among the brackets?"

"The E Class doesn't get entered into the tournament," Mimura speaks up, his chin propped up in his hand. "For the wonderful reason that that'd leave an odd number of teams. Instead, we have to play an exhibition game at the end."

"Exhibition?" Korosensei asks.

"Basically, it's a just spectacle, they pit us boys against the baseball team, and the girls against the girls' basketball team," Mimura explains. "While the whole school watches."

"I see. Just the typical Class E treatment, huh?" Korosensei remarks.

The scraping of chairs against the ground attracts the attention of the class.

"You do what you want. We're not gonna stick around and be laughing stocks," On his feet, Terasaka moves out of the classroom, Muramatsu and Yoshida following him. "See ya."

The class is stunned into silence.

Well, except Kataoka. Speaking as though she has not heard Terasaka more-or-less broadcast out their class's assured loss, Kataoka directs her question to Hazama. "Are you still participating, Hazama-san?"

"Hmm?" Lifting her head from her book, Hazama blinks slowly.

"I guess that's a yes," Turning, Kataoka begins writing something on the board. "Then, the girl's team is set, Korosensei! We'll be using the classroom after school today, Korosensei if that's alright.

"That's perfectly fine, Kataoka-san. In fact, I commend the girls in being so organised. Now, why can't you boys be like that," Korosensei complains.

"Well, Sugino's the baseball expert," Maehara laughs, turning to face the dark haired boy. "So what do you say?"

"Got any secrets to help us win, _expeluto_?" Karma prompts.

"It's impossible. Our baseball team is pretty strong. Especially Shindo, our current team captain. His explosive fastball has even caught the eye of prestigious high schools," Sugino sighs. "A star pupil _and_ a star athlete...it's unfair..." Sugino closes his eyes. "But you know, Sensei. I want to win," Sugino opens his eyes, steely grey and hard with determination. "Not just put up a good fight. _Win_. I don't want to lose at the sport that I love. After getting kicked off the baseball team and coming to the E Class, my feelings have actually become stronger. I want to team up with this class and-" looking up, Sugino suddenly cuts himself off, jaw dropping.

"So excited! So excited!" At the front of the class, Korosensei is dressed in a baseball uniform, his face transformed to look like a baseball. In his tentacles, he grips several bats and gloves, chanting enthusiastically. "So excited! So excited!"

"Oh, right, you want to play baseball too," Everyone in class has the same slightly startled, slightly amazed, and slightly disbelieving expression. "I hear you loud and clear," Sugino says.

"I've always wanted to be the fiery coach in a sports drama!" Korosensei announces. "I won't smack you kids around or anything, instead, I'll flip tables!" Korosensei holds up a perfectly dinner table.

"You're way too prepared!" Sugino protests.

"Lately you have all become more articulate about the direction you want to go in," Korosensei observes, beaming widely. "'I want to kill.' 'I want to win.' Unwavering, no matter the adversary you face. To reward that spirit, coach Koro will impart upon you the training and strategy you need to win!

"If only you could do that for us girls," Yada murmurs, sighing.

"And we're up first," Okano agrees. The boy's baseball starts at ten, while the girl's basketball starts at nine-thirty."

"I wouldn't mind coaching you girls!" Okajima exclaims, leaping to his feet. One only needs to take _one_ look at his face to know what he is thinking.

"No, that's alright," The girls chorus.

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"Hmm," Kataoka murmurs as she stands in the classroom. After clearing the tables, they have a pretty large space. "OK. So, for today, we'll be doing basics. We'll work on passing and defending. Everyone, get into groups of three."

Nagisa makes her way over to Kaede, who drags her to Manami. Yukiko has already found her own groups with Nakamura and Fuwa.

"Alright, let's start. Pass in a clockwise direction..."

The training carries on.

Even though the tournament is a week away, Kataoka is careful to not overwork the girls, handeling a few aspects of basketball every day. Personally, Nagisa is amazed that Kataoka has such extensive knowledge on the sport, as she seems to know exactly where each person goes wrong, and how to fix it.

"Don't you think Kataoka-san is like an ikemen?" Kaede whispers to Nagisa during one practice, as the girls are doing their stretches.

"Isn't she?" Manami giggles.

"Ikemen...Kataoka Megu..." Kaede taps her chin, and nearly falls over. "Ikemegu!" The green-haired girl exclaims, attracting the attention of her other classmates.

"Ikemegu sounds good!" Kurahashi immediately says, punching her fist into the air, halting her stretching.

"Ikemegu! Ikemegu!" Nakamura begins to chant, laughing. "Ikemegu! Ikemegu!" Nagisa stares at the blonde, who looks a little pale.

"This again...?" Kataoka groans, bringing her palm to her forehead. "I thought I left behind the 'Ikemegu' nonsense last year..."

"Looks like it caught up to you again," Okano giggles.

"You were nicknamed that last year too?" Yada gasps, looking happier than Nagisa had seen her the last few days. "You should have told us, Megu-tan!"

"This is _precisely_ why I didn't tell you all," Kataoka sighs, glaring at Nakamura, who slowly stops her chanting. "Back to practise. We're doing a practise game today."

"Eh?" Nagisa's eyes widen. The other girls seem to agree with, voicing their surprise.

"I have a strategy I want to implement," Hazama says in her solemn voice, going on to explain it.

After listening to the strategy, Kataoka nods slowly. "Alright. We'll train for that. For now, we'll be splitting into groups of two. I'm going to number everyone..."

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The day of the tournament is bright and sunny.

"I'm so worried..." Nagisa admits to Karma as they walk to the main campus.

"Why? It's just basketball," Karma points out. "It's an easier game to understand than baseball, you know."

"Stillll," Nagisa half-shrugs, then bumps Karma's shoulder with her own. "Did you eat?"

"Hah?" Karma gives her a disbelieving expression.

"You're going to be using up a lot of energy later, so you've got to eat," Nagisa scolds, wishing she had made him some food.

"I ate a large breakfast, is that good enough? The exhibition match isn't till afternoon," Karma reminds her.

"It's good enough," Nagisa consents. Seeing the large campus gradually growing bigger and bigger as they draw closer, still navigating down the mountain, she feels her feet begin to drag. Today is the tournament...Yada's fate for the next week will be decided here...

"That woman hasn't been hurting you?"

"No, she's been distracted recently..." Nagisa furrows her brows, remembering how her mom had seemed more cheerful, albeit more forgetful. A few times, recently, she had been so out of it that she had forgotten to give Nagisa dinner. "I wonder why..."

"Well, I'm glad that Bitch isn't lifting a hand against you...By the way, aren't you girls unusually on task for this?" Karma comments. Nagisa jumps. Yada had begged them to keep it amongst the girls. ' _It's hard to explain why,_ ' she had said, ' _but please don't tell anyone else! Not even the boys, or our teachers. They'd be very upset...and I don't want to worry them_ '. Kataoka had also said that ' _This is a_ _girl thing. We'll solve it on our own._ ' once. "I mean, Sugino's pride is on the line, that's why us boys have been working so hard, but you girls have been working twice as hard, but haven't mentioned your motivation."

Feeling her cheeks flush, Nagisa stares at the ground. She hates keeping secrets from Karma, but...

The couple walks in silence for a bit, before Karma finally sighs. "Alright. I won't ask anymore."

Nagisa sighs in relief.

Unfortunately, Karma goes oddly quiet after that, and they both don't say a word. They're really close to the main campus now...Nagisa peers up at Karma through her lashes. As she has expected, he looks a little troubled. He doesn't like not knowing things, after all. Nagisa turns her gaze back to the ground. Well...she doesn't want Karma to be so upset by this. With a soft sigh, Nagisa slowly brushes her fingers against the back of Karma's hand. When he gives no reaction, she slowly grips it, holding his hand loosely. _Can she calm him down with this...?_ When she's just about to think that maybe, _maybe_ Karma's pretty angry, he squeezes her hand.

 _Thank goodness..._

Smiling, Nagisa rests her head against Karma's shoulder.

Finally, the pair arrives at the campus.

"Good luck with your game!" Nagisa chirps, giving Karma's a quick kiss.

"You too, _shortucaku_ ," Karma replies cheerfully, making Nagisa feel a strange sense of accomplishment.

"Win for me," Nagisa whispers, before pecking Karma on the lips again and running to the gym, where the ball game tournament for the girls will be held.

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"First, the A class will go against the B class at nine-thirty," Kataoka taps the leaflet she's holding, briefing all the girls. "Then the winner of that match will ascend the bracket and have a period of rest before the match between the C class and the D class at ten-thirty. The winner of _that_ match will ascend the bracket and go against the winner of the A - B class match at eleven-thirty. After which, the girls' basketball team and the E class will be having their exhibition match at twelve thirty. Very straightforward."

"Uh...I understand the whole plan," Nakamura slowly raises her hand, looking embarrassed. "But why do we have to be here so early? Only a few people from the C and D classes are here for the A - B class match. Not to mention, we're a half-hour early."

"Because we're the E Class, duh," Fuwa jabs Nakamura in the side. "Did you forget?"

"Ugh..."

"The other girls will be watching the baseball match later, instead of the other classes because they want to oggle the guys," Hazama explains, making it sound as though ogling guys is a terrible sin.

"This isn't so bad, though," Manami murmurs, leaning forward. "Think of it as gathering intel!"

"Oh, _nicesu_ , _nicesu_ ," Kaede says approvingly. "We didn't think of that, Manami!"

"Omega good jobbu!" Nagisa herself praises. She hadn't thought of that.

"Well, you guys can do that. I'd rather gossip," Nakamura grins.

Nagisa stares at the blonde. Although she's trying to act like herself, she has a worried crease to her brow, and she looks a more than a little fearful.

"Nakamura-san," Nagisa lightly touches Nakamura's shoulder.

"Yes, Nagisa?" Nakamura grins. "Do you need me? Or do you want to join in the gossip?"

"Are you alright?"

"Of course!" Nakamura lets out one of her usual loud laughs, but Nagisa frowns. Is she _really_ alright? She hadn't shown much guilt over causing Yada to make the bet, but it's clear that it's eating her up.

"Why don't you just apologize?" Nagisa wonders aloud.

"Huh?" Nakamura blinks.

"You're feeling guilty, right?"

"Welllllll..." Looking away, Nakamura ducks her head a bit. "I've already said sorry, so it's none of your business, Nagisa."

"Oh. I see...sorry for butting in, then," Nagisa turns her attention to the near empty gym, where people from the A and B classes are warming up. Behind her, the girls start talking about this and this person from the main campus, and this and that boy that they saw in the mall. Only Nagisa, Hazama and Manami remain steadfast, staring at the basketball courts.

"Those are the basketball members," Manami points out. "I call them One, Two, Three, Four, Five and Six respectively," She points to each girl as she numbers them. "One, Two, Three and Four are from the A class, while Five and Six are from the B class."

Nagisa props her chin in her hand, watching. The six girls are _pretty_ good. They are fast on their feet, with good reflexes and...

While watching the varying basketball girls over the course of the ball game tournament, Nagisa finds it more and more doubtful that they will be able to put up a good fight against them.

"It's no use," Nagisa mumbles, sighing heavily.

"Hey, Manami," Yukiko calls, from behind them. "Which one is the girl we're supposed to get on the field?"

"That one," Hazama answers for Manami, pointing as a rather...large...girl.

"She's definitely a hundred and eighty, or more," Nagisa murmurs, feeling a little bit envious. She on the other hand, is barely a hundred and fifty-five, which is _very_ short, as Karma never ceases to remind her. That _and_ the fact that she looks like a twelve-year-old.

"What, around the waist?" Nakamura joins in, giggling at her own joke.

"Well, she _is_ a little pudgy," Manami shrugs, half-smiling.

"A _little_?" Nakamura snorts. "She's not even pudgy in a nice way, like Hara-chan! Or maybe even Korosensei...? She's pudgy in a gross way."

"That's being mean," Nagisa scolds.

"Sorry."

"We will now be taking a short break," A cool, feminine voice echoes around the gymnasium. "After this, at 12:30 PM, there will be an exhibition match between the E Class and the girl's basketball team."

"Alright, shall we go warm up?" Kataoka stands, smiling at her classmates.

"Yes!" The girls chorus.

And about an hour later, the girls from the other classes file into the gym, giggling at each other as they take their seats.

The girls' basketball team enter, dressed in jerseys and shorts, beginning to stretch on the court.

The E Class girls exchange looks, fully prepared.

 _Exhibition match...start_

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As soon as the tip off begins, Kaede, who's starting for their team (and who can jump _really_ high), slams the ball into Kataoka's hands. Kataoka immediately more or less bulldozes her way through the girl's basketball team, dashing to their side and dunking the ball.

A stunned silence follows as the ball slips through the hoop, bouncing off the ground. Two points go to class E.

Beaming, Nagisa grabs Hazama's hands. "Your plan should work!"

"Of course," Hazama simply smiles.

The ball goes to the girls' basketball team, and Nagisa holds her breath, watching as the girls dribble and pass the ball. While one girl (for the sake of a play-by-play, Nagisa will use numbers to name them), One, is passing the ball, it's suddenly snatched from the air.

"Yes!" Kurahashi cheers loudly, a sudden sound from the benches that attracts the attention of some of the basketball members (who are numbered One to Five respectively).

Whatever the case, it helps. The person who stole the ball, Hayami (who has great kinetic vision, aim, reflexes and balance, but is somewhat terrible at dribbling) throws the ball to Okano, who tosses it to Nakamura, who is standing by the three point arc. Narrowing her eyes, Nakamura positions herself to shoot...

She misses, but Kataoka, hovering around the basket, catches the ball on rebound and throws it to Hayami, who stands at the three point arc. With her excellent aim, Hayami manages to get the ball in the basket.

 _Five points to class E_.

"Your plan was really, really good," Nagisa beams.

Hazama's plan had been simple: _"No matter how much you guys train," She had begun when introducing her plan. "You're never going to get on the level that the girls' basketball team is on."_

 _Of course, this caused annoyed protests to rise from the girls._

 _"It's the truth," Hazama rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. "So here's what we're going to do. Go on full out offence whenever you have the ball. In the past few practices, Hayami has the highest number of baskets made from the three point arc, followed by Nakamura and Fuwa, who are more or less on the same level. Kataoka excels in the slam dunk, and she's also quite good at scoring three-pointers. Kayano's got excellent reflexes, and Fuwa and Nakamura are somehow an excellent duo. Make use of all that. When the other team has the ball, get it back and just attack. 'Offence is the best defence' and whatever."_

By the time the whistle for the end of the first quarter is blown, many, many shocked minutes later (seven, to be exact), class E is leading, 13-6.

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Bouncing on the balls of her feet, Nagisa is completely elated.

"We're winning!" Kurahashi giggles, grabbing Hazama, who's calmly sitting on the bench and reading her novel, and spinning her around and around, knocking the book out of her hands and causing it to slide half-way across the court.

"I'll go get it," Nagisa offers, chasing after wayward book. Humming softly, Nagisa bends over to pick it up, only to see a hand descend into her vision and grab the book first. "Pardon me," She says immediately, assuming that the hand belongs to a girl from the girls' basketball team, in other words; a main campus girl.

"No problem," A calm voice replies. Nagisa stands, staring at the girl in front of her.

Her eyes are small and dark, her hair is brown, and wound into a tight bun on her head that somehow is still perfect, even after the gruelling match. It's obvious that the girl had played in it, sweat running down her forehead and neck as she pants heavily, a towel draped over her shoulders and a sports bottle gripped in the hand that isn't holding the book.

Number Six, Nagisa had called her mentally. She had swapped with Number Three about three quarters into the the first quarter. Since the game had been pretty fast pace, Nagisa hadn't recognised her.

"O-Omaeda-san," Nagisa stammers out, staring at the girl with a little bit of worry.

"Ah, Shiota-kun," Omaeda Tsugumi, a girl who used to be in the same class as Nagisa, before moving up to Class A this year, glances at the cover of the book before tossing it to Nagisa, maintaining a distance of about half a metre between them. "The guy turns out to be a liar in the end."

"Th-Thank you..."

"Oh, Asano-kun asked me to pass this to you, if I saw you," Turning around, Omaeda starts to return to the bench of the girls' basketball team, gesturing for Nagisa to follow. Slowly, Nagisa shuffles after her.

"Shuu-san did?" Nagisa asks softly, standing awkwardly behind Omaeda as she rifles through her gym bag. The other girls on the girls' basketball team glare at her, already annoyed just _looking_ at her.

 _"_ What is the E Class scum doing here?"She hears one girl whisper.

"Ugh, I can't believe Tsugumi has the _nerve_ to invite one of _them_ over."

"At this rate, we'll have wayyyy too much interaction with the E losers."

"She's probably trying to cheat."

Flushing, Nagisa turns her gaze to the ground.

"Here, Shiota-kun," Omaeda tosses an envelope to Nagisa. "You can go now."

"Y-Yeah..." As she hurries across the field, Nagisa clutches the envelope, feeling the stiff paper crumple under her hands.

Ugh...she hopes that this game will be over soon...

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The second quarter begins.

"Stick to the plan," Hazama sends the girls off, turning to take her book from Nagisa. "Nagisa-san, you pay attention to the game. Call for a time out when we need it."

"Y-Yes!" Dropping the envelope into her bag, Nagisa turns her attention to the game. She'll read the letter _later_.

So far, so good...

Kaede had possession over the ball now, and swiftly throws it to Hayami, who doesn't bother to move closer to the three point arc, simply throwing the ball towards the basket. She misses, the ball falling short, but Kataoka swiftly catches it and dunks it.

"Megu-tan is amazing!" Kurahashi giggles.

"I know, right?" Yada beams. "We might actually win the match!"

"We don't want to win the match, though. We want to get that girl out onto the field," Yukiko reminds them gently. "So we'll have to do our very best."

On the court, the girls' basketball team gets the ball again, and Nagisa watches as Two grabs it and throws it blindly towards their basket, but misses. Okano manages to grab it, starting to pass it to Nakamura when Four suddenly elbows the blonde to one side and snatches the ball.

"That's a foul...!" Manami exclaims, leaping to her feet.

"The referee's not doing anything!" Fuwa splutters indignantly, turning to look at the referee, who's simply watching the match with glassy eyes. "What the hell?"

"The referee's on their side," Nagisa says softly, watching with bated breath.

Thankfully, Kaede manages to steal the ball as Four is dribbling it, and starts to make her way to their basket...

But then, three girls suddenly flank her, all trying to snatch the ball. Glancing at the three girls (Omaeda, One and Five), Nagisa nearly misses the look out pure fury in Kaede's eyes.

Nearly.

A second after that, Kaede blasts past the girls, pushing them over.

 _Tweet_.

"Foul!" The referee shouts. "Ball goes to the girls' basketball team!"

And that's where it all goes terribly.

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"We will now be beginning the second half," The cool, feminine voice echoes around the gym speakers.

A few class E girls all stand in a worried circle around Hazama and Nagisa, who both are very visibly panicking.

"Maybe if we swap Kaede with Yada-san?" Nagisa asks the other girl, frantically trying to think clearly.

"Maybe, but then Yada is easier to smack talk," Hazama points out. "And she loses her composure pretty easily what with the bet and all.

"Then, Fuwa?"

"Fuwa's still injured..." Hazama runs her fingers down the list of students. "Okuda isn't very athletic..."

"Kurahashi or Yukiko, then?"

The second quarter had been terrible. Kaede had developed a suddenly violent tenacity towards the girls' basketball team, allowing them many, many free throws. (Ten, to be exact. Which number Two had managed to get all ten into the basket, making them three points ahead of the E Class, not including the other points they had managed to gather during the game) before Nagisa and Hazama had decided to swap Kaede with Fuwa.

However, the girls' basketball team, clearly angered by Kaede, started playing just as dirty. It got so bad that at one point, Fuwa had been violently knocked to the side as she tried to get the ball back from Five, who had been shooting, her head clanging against the pole in a sick sounding crack. The dark haired girl had been knocked out, and is now lying at the side of the court, being fussed over by Yukiko and Manami.

With such an obvious foul, the referee had been forced to give them a free throw, but even then...

Now they are losing, 18-23

"Shit," Nagisa mumbles, biting her finger. _Who's better, Kurahashi or Yukiko?_ "Put in Kurahashi, Yukiko's taking care of Fuwa."

"Eh? Me?" Kurahashi asks, startled. "But Yada is a lot better."

"I'll go in," Yada says decisively, hands on her hips. "This is all my fault, isn't it?"

"...Nagisa, could you ask that girl who was speaking with your earlier about the girl we need to get on court?" Hayami suddenly speaks up, voicing a strange request.

"Omaeda-san? Sure...I guess?" Moving around the court, Nagisa gestures to Omaeda to come to her.

Thankfully, the dark haired girl does just that.

"Yes?" She asks coldly.

"Sorry, Omaeda-san, but could you tell me about that girl?" Nagisa points to the large girl. The girls' basketball team's apparent ace.

"Oh, _her_?" Omaeda's lip curls in disgust. "She's Miyamura Rika, a damn waste of space. Can't play basketball very well, but insists on being on the team. Very useless. Why do you want to know?"

"Huh? Isn't she your team's ace?" Nagisa blinks in surprise.

"Ugh, no. If someone like that was our ace, our team'd be terrible."

Nagisa blinks.

 _Huh_?

Well, this is an unexpected development.

"S-So, who's the ace...?" Nagisa broaches the subject carefully.

"Me," Omaeda narrows her eyes. "Why do you want to know, Shiota-kun?"

"It's nothing, but you really helped me, Omaeda-san. Thank you! I owe you one!" Nagisa beams, then hurries across the court.

She nearly bowls over Yada at the speed she's going, only managing to stay upright because Kataoka had been behind Yada and managed to catch her before both girls can fall. Nagisa ends up nearly smothered in Yada's bosom, but she's stays upright.

"Yada-san, Yada-san, Yada-san!" Nagisa exclaims, moving a little ways away from Yada, who remains leaning on Kataoka. "What was the exact wording of the bet?"

"E-Eh?" Yada suddenly looks downcast. "I forgot..."

" ' _Get the ace of the girls' basketball team onto the court._ ' " Nakamura voices, coming near the girls. "Then after that they brought Yada and I to class D and started talking about that large girl and how she was super skilled and therefore only got played once in a while. Why?"

"Then we've won the bet!" Nagisa cheers.

"Huh?"

"Omaeda Tsugumi-san is the ace of the girls' basketball club!" Nagisa points at Omaeda. "She was put on the field as early as the first quarter."

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"Man! That was too bad," Nakamura giggles, fanning herself.

"Yeah, we almost got them! Next time, we'll get our revenge!" Kataoka says cheerfully, holding a basketball that Omaeda had given to her.

The girls are walking to the baseball court, their game finished, with Bitch-sensei and Karasuma, who had been watching their match.

"I'm sorry...I was the one who dragged everyone down..." Kaede sighs, looking like she carries the weight of the world on her shoulders.

"That's not true," Kataoka reassures her.

"Don't worry 'bout it!" Nakamura throws an arm around Kaede.

"Kaede," Nagisa sighs but links arms with her, smiling. "It was fun, wasn't it?"

"Not at first," Nakamura sighs, long and dramatic. "I was so worried that I couldn't play properly. _After that_ then it was fun~!"

"You're so strange," Okano mumbles.

"But I really _am_ sorry!" Kaede bursts out with, pouting. "When I saw the bouncing boobs of the basketball girls, all the rage and bloodlust made me see red and I-"

"What's with your animosity towards big boobs, Kayanocchi?!" Okano exclaims.

"But you're the exact same," Fuwa points out.

"I am _not_!" Okano protests.

The girls all laugh.

"Now then," Hayami speaks up, staring a little worriedly at the baseball field. "I wonder how the boys are doing."

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Apparently, the boys are doing pretty much rubbishly.

The girls arrive in time to see a stunned Chiba freeze as Shindo throws an impossibly hard fastball towards the catcher. To top it off, the board Chairman seems to be coaching the baseball team, and Korosensei is nowhere to be seen.

"AND JUST LIKE THAT," The commentator practically screams into his microphone. "The inning is over! Pitcher Shindo-kun is back in his groove."

"Well then," Nakamura murmurs, blinking in startled surprise.

"But oh! We're winning!" Fuwa points out.

"Probably not for long," Kataoka crosses her arms. "And by the looks of it, it's just about the baseball team's turn to bat."

Without speaking, Hayami starts walking around the chain fence, to the area where the boys are.

"H-Hayami-san!" Nagisa calls a little frantically, before chasing after the green-eyed girl. Where the boys are is about opposite where the girls had been standing, making it a rather long walk. "Hayami-san, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, Nagisa," Hayami waves her off, stopping by where the boys are clearly having a discouraged huddle. "Chiba," Hayami calls.

"E-Eh?" Nagisa blinks.

The boys break up their huddle.

"Well, well!" Karma waves. "Nice to see you girls, but you're a little late, Hayami-san. Chiba was looking for you before he went to bat."

"My apologies," Bowing her head, Hayami lightly laps the chainlink fence that surrounds the baseball field. "Chiba."

"Wah..." Nagisa watches as Chiba goes to the chain link fence, beginning to talk to Hayami quietly. "Karma, do you think...?"

"Nah," Karma grins, moving over to talk to Nagisa. "We're losing, as you can see. Sugino's quite upset."

"Ah..." Nagisa tilts her head, then stares at the large diamonds of the chain link. "Do you think my hand can go through?"

"Yeah, it's definitely small enough."

"I'll try, then," Squeezing her hand through the hole, Nagisa blinks in surprise when it goes in easily. "Oh! Could you perhaps bend down a bit, Karma?"

"Why?" Karma blinks, then laughs, bending down a little so that Nagisa can pat his head.

"Yosh, yosh," Nagisa smiles gently, ruffling Karma's red hair. "Do your best, alright? Please don't lose, that would be..."

"Lame?"

"Lame."

"Got it," Karma grins, kissing Nagisa's hand.

Withdrawing her hand, Nagisa beams. "Then you should begin to play, right?"

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Well, easy enough for Nagisa to say, she supposes...

The baseball team are clearly rejuvenated, whatever the board chairman saying to them seeming to have encouraged them.

"Leading off the inning, the left fielder, Hashimoto-kun," A cool female voice announces.

"Chiba's catching," Yada hums, elbowing Hayami, who simply lets out an annoyed sigh.

"I can see that," Hayami mumbles, but Nagisa notes how she pays close attention.

"Sugino-kun of class E, the first pitch!" The commentator announces, sounding amused.

"Sugino's pitching," Yukiko comments, seeming interested.

Well, then, Nagisa lifts her hand to cover up her smile. An unexpected development...I'll have to tell Sugino that Yukiko was watching him intently.

Sugino throws a curveball that lands stoutly in Chiba's catcher's mitt.

"Strike!"

"Amazing!" Yukiko cheers.

"That's a great breaking ball," Hayami grins.

On field, Sugaya and Sugino have a brief exchange, eyeing the baseball club's defence.

After getting another two strikes, Hashimoto is sent off.

"Now, the top of the second inning! Still going with the impregnable bunt defence!" The announcer cheers.

"Batting eight, the left fielder, Akabane-kun," The computerised, cool female voice echoes around the courtyard.

"They're all surrounding the batting box..." Nagisa murmurs as the next inning starts. "Is that allowed?"

Sure enough, all of the baseball team swarm the baseball diamond, standing at nearly every available spot a bunt can go.

As if hearing her, Karma doesn't move into the batting box, instead seeming more preoccupied with dangling his helmet on his bat. The umpire seems to call to him, but Karma ignores him, turning to the baseball team's side.

"Hey! Mr Board Chairman, isn't this you playing dirty?" He calls. "They're taking up defensive positions that clutter up the field, and the umpire hasn't given them any warnings..." Turning to the watching students, all dumbfounded, Karma smirks. "Don't you guys think it's weird too? Oh! I get it! You guys aren't the brightest, so you don't understand defensive positions and stuff, huh?"

The watching students are completely livid, all beginning to shout.

"Quit whining about the little things, E Class!"

"It's an exhibition match!"

"Quit trying to dispute the defence!"

"If you got a problem, then show us you can bring results!"

Karma turns to somewhere on the court, sticking out his tongue.

"The main campus students are so annoying..." Kataoka snarls.

"Karma!" Nagisa cups her hands around her mouth, calling out. When he turns to face her, she give him a shy wave and her sweetest smile.

Karma gives her a little wink then goes to bat.

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"Top of the second inning, the E Class helplessly goes down in order!" The announces crows.

"HAHAHAHAHA," Okano can't stop laughing, for some reason, despite the fact that their class is losing.

"Hinata, shut up. Our class is losing," Hayami sighs, massaging her forehead.

"B-But it's just too funny!" Okano covers her mouth with her hand, which successfully makes her laughter less loud. Nagisa really wonders what the brunette finds so funny.

"What's so funny?" Kaede protests, crossing her arms. "The fact that we're losing?"

"Look at Karma-kun, he looks so...so embarrassed," Okano giggles. Nagisa squints, trying to see Karma, standing quietly in the left outfield. His cheeks are clearly red. "He clearly was thinking that he was going to show-off while his girlfriend's here. But he didn't manage to bunt properly~! Hahahaha~!"

"Shut up, Monkey!" Someone calls from the field. Probably Maehara, since no one else really calls Okano 'Monkey'.

"Shut up, Maehara-kun!" Okano retorts, scowling. Her mood does an abrupt one-eighty.

"Well, that stopped her from laughing at the very least," Kurahashi smiles a little awkwardly, sweat-dropping.

"Oi, Hiroto!" Nagisa hears another voice yell. Squinting a little, Nagisa manages to see Isogai clip Maehara on the head. "Sorry, Okano-san!"

"Punch that maggot for me!" Okano calls.

"Don't you dare, Yuuma!" Maehara yells, and then baseball team starts to play...

It's quite startling to see how the baseball team bat. After two members of the baseball team make it back to the home base, and Class E makes absolutely no home runs in the third inning, starts the last chance class E has.

"We've finally come to an end!" The announcer cheers. "It's the baseball team's turn at the offensive and that's it!"

"They can't let the Baseball club make any home runs," Kataoka murmurs.

As she says that, a batter makes a drag bunt.

"Definitely," Hayami says in her usual monotone, although her brow is twitching. "This is just so...!."

The second batter makes a bunt too, and he makes it to the second base, the first runner staying at third.

"The baseball club has very fast runners and strong batters. Once they manage to hit the pitcher's ball, there's a high chance that a home run is ensured," Hayami explains.

"Is there really?" Nakamura frowns. "Shit, that's Shindo. We're gonna lose. Well."

"The next batter up is our school's pride and joy! Our superstar!" The announcer screeches into his microphone. "It's Shindo-kun!"

Shindo marches onto the field looking like death, oozing bloodlust. "I'm going to trample you, Sugino!"

"...No, just no, we had better not lose," Hazama growls.

"Shhhh!" Nagisa berates. "Something's happening..."

Sure enough, seeming to have recovered, Karma hurries over to where a group of boys are huddling, calling out. "Oi! Instructions from the coach!"

Nagisa blinks, watching as the boys disscus for a while, then fans out toward the baseball diamond.

"Oh, don't tell me," Yukiko gasps, then giggles.

"And so, the game resumes...with..." The announcer falters. "A-An unusually tight defence...!"

" 'Unusually'?" Fuwa begins to giggle too.

The E class all stand within the diamond, similar to the defending pattern of the earlier baseball team. Karma and Isogai stand nearest to the batter.

"We're clearly defending in positions that disrupt the focus of the batter," Karma says cheerfully, speaking as though he's revealing a great joke. "But I didn't hear any objects from the umpire when you guys did it earlier," humming, Karma turns to the Board Chairman. "You got no problem with that, right? Board Chairman?"

Instead of getting flustered, the Board Chairman simply smiles a calm smile that almost rivals Yukiko's. "Feel free! Mere changes in the defence will not faze the chosen."

"Wow! Big words!" Karma taunts, smirking. "Then we'll do just that." Next to him, Isogai sighs heavily, but follows Karma when he begins to move forward...and forward...and forward...! Nagisa gasps along with the rest of the watching students.

Isogai and Karma stand right in front of the batter, Shindo.

"T-Talk about close!" The announces stammers, sounding panicked. "Forgot about a close defence! This is point-blank!"

"Point-blank what?" Hayami frowns.

"Who knows," Yada shrugs.

"He could hit them with his swing at this distance!" The announcer shrieks. Shindo himself clearly doesn't know what to do, blinking blankly at the two boys.

"Don't mind us," Karma waves his hand dismissively. "Just swing away, superstar. We won't get in the way of the pitcher."

"Shindo's really panicking, huh?" Yukiko tilts her head, looking a little unbothered by that.

"Yeah..." Manami mumbles, looking startled. Shindo does look rather frazzled, visibly warring with himself.

"He'd probably not that bad a guy," Yada taps her chin.

"Maybe," Kaede shrugs.

As Sugino throws the ball, Shindo swings real big, Karma and Isogai dodge easily, just enough for them to avoid being hit by the bat. Shindo misses, Chiba, who's the catcher, managing to catch the ball.

"Strike!" The umpire calls.

"A slow swing like that won't cut it," Karma tsks, lifting his mitt. "Next time...try swinging like you mean to kill us..." Smirking, Karma takes another step nearer to Shindo, releasing his bloodlust all in one motion, and Shindo begins to visibly lose it.

The next time Sugino throws the ball, Shindo releases a feral cry, swinging-

The ball barely makes contact with his bat, popping up into the air. Without hesitation, Karma leaps up, catching it, then throws it to Chiba.

"Chiba, _thirdo_ (Third)!" Hayami yells.

At the same time, Isogai points to Kimura, standing at third base, poised to catch the ball. "Third base, hurry!"

Chiba throws it so accurately, it lands squarely in Kimura's catcher's mitt shortly before the baseball team member makes it to the base.

"Out!" The umpire calls.

"Kimura! First base, next!" Sugino instructs. "The runner hasn't run yet, so no need to hurry!"

"Roger that!" Winding up, Kimura throws the ball to Sugaya, who's careful as he catches it. Shindo lies at the batter box, staring blankly at the sky.

"A-A triple play..." The announcer mumbles weakly. "G-Game over! Unbelievable...unbelievable...! The E class...has won against the baseball team!"

"You better believe it!" Nakamura shouts, punching a fist into the air.

"You guys are awesome!" Jumping up and down, Yada cheers for the boys.

The girls all grin and cheer, the boys are releasing loud cries of victory.

 _How nice..._ Nagisa smiles.

"Oi, oi! Nagisa!" Karma runs over to wear the girls are, grinning. "How was it?"

" _Nice,_ Karma!" Nagisa beams.

"Come on, girls! Get into the field!" Isogai invites, grinning madly.

"Let's goooo~!" Kaede throws her arms out, and Kataoka begins shepherding the girls into the baseball field.

As soon as they pass the door, Nagisa runs for Karma, throwing her arms around him. " _Good job,_ Karma!" She whispers into his ear, ensuring to use English.

"I was good, right?" Karma snickers, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close to him.

"Yes, you were great! Should I congratulate the others too?" Nagisa pulls back a bit.

"No, no, no," Setting his hands on her shoulders, Karma leans down, giving Nagisa a sweet kiss.

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 **I'm really sorry this took so long to come out!**

 **My life right now is in a bit of a horrible mess , because of real life stuff... (sorry, sorry), with some family stuff I can't control. So, please be patient with me! Updates may be sporadic from now on, but I'll do my best to update twice a week again. Maybe once my life settles down again.**

 **I really am sorry!**

 **Oh, and thank you very much, Princess630!**

 **Review replies (Sorry, a bit harried):**

 _ **GingerHale:** She saw his tentacle *nods* LOL WHAT WERE YOU THINKING ABOUT?! XD You finally restored your password...(says I after a few weeks) Oo! Your dog! Haha, dogs are so cute :3 Well, Itona's a pretty important antagonist before he joins the class, but please tolerate him for plot-development. Haha, oops, it's late again..._

 ** _Xenocanaan:_** _Thanks! It was really fun to write the Kirara extra!_

 ** _Amaya Kuruta:_** _Korosensei's head...Ah! I should have made it swell again! Haha, I don't know if I can pair Itona and Hazama. Hazama seems like a very independent girl who needs no guys...or_ _something...Haha, the best assassin if up for you to guess~ I totally get what you mean lol *dramatic sigh* I'm sorry this chapter came out so late...next time I should throw parties when things manage to come out on time, huh? XD *_ _Koala hug!*_

 ** _OneWhoCharms:_** _That is a genius way to call Itona :O Thanks! Hazama's really interesting ^^_

 ** _Princess630:_** _It is pretty bland, huh? :P Sorry, it's for plot-development :) It's lively to read ab out them bickering? Lolol XD_

 ** _TheJubilations:_** _Thanks! Haha, yeah, fluff is the best, but some chapters are just so hard to swathe in fluff...*puffs out cheeks* you know? I hope some of the fluff in this was adequate XD Sorry again for the late update! Thank you so much for your nice words *throws a panda cub*_

 ** _Hello821:_** _Thank you so much for reading! And for the compliment ^^ I'm sometimes scared 'cause I can't really capture Karma's personality...but it's still pretty fun to write Karma! (Especially with Nagisa!)_

 ** _Marshmallow:_** _*clears throat*_ _*Bows*_ _I'M SO SORRY, PLEASE DON'T SCOLD ME FOR THE CHAPTER COMING OUT SO LATE! *hides* Ok, actually, if you want to scold me go ahead..._

 _Anyway:_

 _TAKAOKA ALWAYS MAKES ME SO MAD . NAGISA IS SO GOING TO KICK HIS ASS-BUTT! And no! I_ hope _Takaoka isn't a pedophile! That would_ really _be weird. Itona's chapter was a little boring, huh? :P I cringed writing it, but I couldn't resist the zombie bit. You really like the Takaoka episode, huh? Sorry about not having it out on Friday. My personal life's going really bad right now :P And yeah, you guys got Donald Trump O.O I took the election seriously and actually got really scared for the future of America...but it's pretty bad how some people are reacting too. I worry for your nation_

 ** _HappyGuy:_** _Sorry! The lack of Karmagisa was painful_

 ** _Illusionoflove:_** _Yes, your name is cool! I'm glad you liked the Hazama extra XD_

 ** _Guest Potato (OH DO YOU LIKE POTATOES TOO?!):_** _Thank you! I'm so sorry this took so long! (You noticed the MaeIso? I've been found out *wink* shhh, don't tell anyone), Haha, thank you very much! I won't go as far as saying it's perfect, but that makes me super happy XD Although this is late again;; I'll never stop writing this till I'm done, I think..._

 ** _Hello8215:_** _Updated!_

 ** _XxDamagedSoulxX:_** _Thank you very much! That makes me very happy XD (p.s I would love to! *scribbles it on to do list*)_

 ** _Shiranai Atsune:_** _Don't worry about the late R &R, I was pretty late to post. Hmm...I don't know if I can do Kirara and Itona (being a Terasaka x Itona shipper myself) and as I said before, Kirara seems very independant! How do I keep track of Korosensei's weakness? The wikia! Sorta. Yes. Look forward to when Asano comessss. *evil laughter* There's a mega story arc involving him :)_

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 _Extras #1:_

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 _(Set shortly before their third year started)_

"What's that?" Nagisa asks, nudging the door open with her foot. In her hands, she holds a tray with two filled-to-the-brim glasses of barley tea.

"Need help?" Karma dodges the question, putting whatever it was in his hands down and standing to take the tray from Nagisa.

The couple are in Karma's room, and Nagisa had just gone down to get drinks from Mrs Akabane.

"Seriously, what's that?" Nagisa pouts, sitting herself at the kotatsu.

"You can just pick it up and look," Setting the tray of drinks onto the table, Karma picks up the something he had been looking at and tosses it to Nagisa. "My mother decided to pass this to me this morning."

Catching the object, Nagisa studies it. It's a DVD case, with the words ' _Primary Four - Karma!'_ written in the middle and other words like _'The one times you actually kept in contact with a girl after school!', 'The first time you ever brought someone home!', 'Unforgettable times hahahahaha'_ and _'YOU WERE SUCH A CUTE KID!'_ printed all over it. There was also a small chibi drawing of Karma next to the _'YOU WERE SUCH A CUTE KID'_ words.

"Did your mom make this?"

"I think my dad helped," Karma passes a hand over his forehead. "Seriously, what was that woman thinking. Some of these words just sound weird."

"She's funny," Opening the case, Nagisa pops the DVD out. "Shall we watch it?"

"Why not? I want to see how much she managed to document," Picking up his laptop, Karma knocks some of his...stuff off his bed, plopping down into the freed space. "Come on, Nagisa."

"Yes," Standing, Nagisa moves over to Karma's bed, climbing over his mountain of strewn items and adjusting herself in between his legs.

Karma inserts the DVD and goes silent.

On the screen of the laptop, a familar scene begins to play.

 _To be continued..._

 _(Maybe)_

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 _Extras #2:_

 _The complicated relationship between Hayami Rinka and Chiba Ryuunosuke_

 _A pointless extra_

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"Here for your week of slavery, E student?" A girl from class B giggles, which immediately starts the laughter of the group of girls and boys around her. It's clear that the group is a mix of class C and class B students, here to hound the E girls the day after the tournament.

Rinka finds this quite annoying. Honestly, does she _look_ like Yada to them? She and the purple-eyed girl had _nothing_ in common.

"Pardon, but I am not the girl you made the bet with," She tells them calmly, about to brush past them when one of the B class boys grab her arm.

"Aren't you Chiba's girlfriend?" He asks.

...

This _again_?

"No," Shaking the boy off, she resumes her walk out of the school.

And it happens _again_.

This time, a girl grabs her arm. "Really? Is Chiba seeing _you_?!" She gives Hayami an obvious once over, staring at her wavy hair, that is a little messy as usual, then looking right into her eyes, doing a slow sweep over her torso down to her feet, wrinkling her nose. "Ew. E students really _do_ have bad taste."

"We are not going out," Rinka spits, seething. Seriously. If Chiba hadn't been as popular with girls as he is, she wouldn't have to deal with all these...floozies.

"Rinka," A familar voice calls. Rinka facepalms mentally.

What is that boy thinking.

Calling her by her given name, _in front of these people_ and just...

"Rinka," Ryuunosuke calls again.

For some reason, he is lurking at the main gate of the school. Instead of replying, Rinka hurries past him. She doesn't need even _more_ floozies fafterher.

"Rinka," Ryuunosuke grabs onto her arm, (Another one!) and Rinka swears she can murder him.

"Ryuu, you could have done me a favour and pretended you didn't know me," Rinka hisses.

"...Sorry..." Ryuunosuke mumbles, gripping her arm tighter.

"SO YOU _ARE_ SEEING EACH OTHER?!" One of the girls from the group screeches.

"Pardon?" Ryuunosuke tilts his head a little bit, and Rinka guesses that he'd furrowing his brows. Ryuunosuke is actually extremely smart, but he's usually very stupid when it comes things like reading the mood. Social cues...or really, people stuff in general. Rinka doesn't have his brain, but she is better at people stuff...but not really at connecting and communicating.

"Ryuu, I swear I need to teach you how to understand what is going on in the minds of girls our age," Rinka mumbles.

"Sorry..."

"It's fine," Turning back to face that terrible group, Rinka decides to mess with them. Taking Ryuunosuke's hand, she threads their fingers together, keeping her usual impassive face on. "We're not going out, so please stop bothering us," With that said, Rinka drags Ryuunosuke out of the gate.

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"Rinka."

Rinka keeps walking.

"Rinka."

Keeps walking.

"Rinka," Ryuunosuke takes her hand; pulls her into an empty alleyway. "Why'd you do that in that way just now?"

"Hmm?" Rinka blinks, then tries to free her hand from his.

...

His grip is too tight.

...

Still too tight.

...

"So they'll spread the rumour that you're going out with someone and the floozies will stop chasing you," Rinka says simply, wondering how he hadn't understood.

...

Still too tight.

"But they'll think that _we're_ dating," Ryuunosuke protests.

"Is there anything wrong with that?" Rinka asks, feeling an annoyed feeling curling in her stomach. "Ryuu, do you have someone you like?"

"Not really. You're the closest female friend I have," Scratching his cheek, Ryuunosuke still retains a tight grip on her hand.

"Thank you," Now the annoyed feeling is more like a fluttery one.

How agitating, Rinka thinks, and brings hers and Ryuunosuke's linked hands to her lips.

"Rinka?"

"Sorry, Ryuu," Rinka shuts her eyes, brushing her lips against his fingers.

"Rinka..." Ryuunosuke makes a soft noise, of what she isn't sure, and wraps his arms around her, holding her close to him. "Are you fighting with your mother again?"

Rinka falls silent. _This_ is a Ryuunosuke only she knows, one who is perceptive to her every action and shows his worry through his words, despite his neutral tone and face that is covered by his hair.

"A little bit, yes," Rinka grumbles. Well, grumbles for her. Her tone is the same, as is her expression, the only difference a slight tick in her brow.

"That's too bad..." Ryuunosuke sighs softly, and tightens his hold around her.

"Now it _really_ looks like we're dating," Rinka can't resist teasing him, arching her brow.

"I don't mind, since it's with you, Rinka," Ryuunosuke shrugs, and Rinka can practically feel him smiling, next to her ear.

"Maybe another day," Rinka mumbles vaguely, wrapping her arms around him as well.

"Really?"

"Yes, when we're both ready, we can try," Rinka promises, running her fingers through Ryuunosuke's hair. "Then we can try going out again."

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 _Extras #3:_

 _Yada Touka and the bet (with a side of strangeness)_

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Touka has to go see the B and C class girls she made the bet with.

She _has_ too...if not, she won't get the money they owed her, and goodness knows she needs that money! It could be put into the fund she had saved for her brother.

Sucking up her courage, she enters the main campus, holding the note in her hand.

 _Meet us in the third music room, 5pm._

Is all it says, but Touka knows, she knows, she knows, that she _must_ obey it. If she wants to have any hope of claiming her prisze.

She _must_ do this.

She _must._

Touka strides in confidentiality.

She _must..._

She _will,_ she will, she will, she _must_ , she **_must_**...

 _Am I actually scared?_ Touka blinks in surprise, her hands flying to her mouth. It's surprising, being afraid of something like this. But she _must_ clear up this messy affair _fast._ The more time she spends here, gathering her courage, the more time her brother spent in the solitude of the hospital. _I wish someone were here with me_.

"Yada-san?"

 _Yes!_ Touka sends a small thank you to whichever divine being had heard and heeded her wish. _Even better, that's Megu-tan's voice!_

"Megu-tan!" Touka exclaims, whirling around and beaming.

"How many times do I have to remind you to not call me Megu-tan?" Megu sighs. "Just Megu is fine, just not that."

"Eh? Why not?" Touka blinks. If Megu doesn't really like it, she'll stop calling her that. The two girls begin to walk, in step with each other.

"Megu-tan is what Hinano calls me when she wants to irritate me," Megu says simply, sighing. "Hinata came up with it a while ago, so..."

"Is that so?" Touka frowns, trying to think of a new name. Just Megu is too plain. "Then, _MeguMegu_ ~!" Touka suggests, beaming. "And you can call me Touka!"

"Touka?" Megu blinks. "Why on earth..."

"Because we're friends, of course!" Touka smiles, linking arms with Megu.

"I guess. So what brings you to the main campus, Touka-san?"

"No, no! Touka-san sounds like you're calling me a character from one of Fuwa's books," Touka scolds. "Just call me Touka, MeguMegu!"

"E-Eh?" Megu flushes. "I don't think I can. Touka-san's the most I can do for now."

"Alright then," Giggling into her hand, Touka begins to explain. "You remember the bet, right?"

"Yes...?"

"Well, I have to go claim my reward in the third music room soon," Touka sighs, hoping that Megu would comply with her next request. "Would you mind coming with?"

"Of course I don't mind," Megu pats Touka's head gently, causing the pony-tailed girl to flush. "I'll make sure they don't con you again."

"Really? Thank you, MeguMegu!" Yada smiles. She really does like Megu, and she's glad that the Ikemen of a girl would be taking care of her. "Thank you for doing so well against the basketball team!"

"It was fun, so no need to thank me," Megu reassures.

The two girls chat as they make their way up to the music room.

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"About time you're here, class E trash," Come a mocking, high voice as Megu pushes open the door to the third music room.

"Oh, hello," Megu blinks, seeming surprised when Touka ducks behind her. While patting her on her head, Megu continues speaking. "Is that Watanabe Chris?"

"Gyah! What's Ikemegu doing here?" The girl, Watanabe Chris, lets out a squeak.

"Chrissu! Shh!" One of the other girls scold. "What you here for, trash?"

"To collect the money we earned from the bet." Megu says calmly.

"Oh, _really_?" A drawling, smooth voice asks, it's owner flicking a strand of brown hair behind her ear. "But _we_ won. You didn't get the girl on the court."

"No, we didn't," Megu says cooly. "But we brought the ace on, and that's the condition, isn't it?"

A stunned silence fills the room.

"Who spilled the beans?" Chris yells, sounding pissed. "They were supposed to think that that useless thing in the team was the acce and beg for mercy!"

"Omaeda Tsugumi-san is the ace," Megu says calmly. "She was played into the court as early as the first quarter, correct?"

Another stunned silence.

"Shit." One of the girls mumble.

"My, you guys aren't as stupid as we give you credit for, huh?" The girl with the drawling voice smiles lazily, tossing an envelope to Megu. Catching it easily, Megu turns and tucks it into Yada's breast pocket.

"Pleasure doing business with you," Megu says dryly, dragging Touka out of the room.

"Wow, you were really cool, MeguMegu," Touka mumbles.

"Thank you, Touka-san"

"Serious! If you were a guy, I'd totally fall for you!" Gazing at Megu with stars in her eyes, Touka can't help but tell her that.

It seems to have a negative effect on Megu, though. Her expression becomes shut up and she turns away.

"Eh? MeguMegu?" Touka asks, tugging on her shirt sleeve. "I'm sorry. You were very cool, but it wasn't like a guy, ok?"

"Hmm...?" Megu seems surprised that Touka had identified what she had been upset about. "Wasn't like a guy?"

"Yep! It was like an onee-chan defending her little imouto-chan!" Touka beams, trying to reassure Megu. "Sorry I said that about if you had been a guy..." Just then, Touka's phone begins to rung. "Ah! It's my little brother! I have to go, MeguMegu!"

"Ah! Wait, Touka-san!" Megu calls, but it's too late.

The brunette has rushed off.

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 _Extras #4_

 _Art Project_

 _(About a month or so after Nagisa and Karma meet_

 _Taken from the back story [So some elements are a little bit mysterious])_

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"Alright, since Shiota-san has only joined us recently, the art project will have assigned partners," The teacher says cheerily..

Nine-going-on-ten-year-old Shiota Nagisa starts slightly as the rest of the class groans. Oops...she can't help but feel that she has made some enemies due to this...

"When I read your names, I want you to get into your pairs," The teacher continues, oblivious to the complaints the students are voicing. "First off, Isaki Meiko with Hisakawa Chihiro, Yamamoto Kotetsuko with Nakamura Shutenko, Togashi Yamoto with Sarushima Mari..." As she continues reading names, most that barely register in Nagisa's brain, since she sometimes finds it hard to tell her classmates apart.

(Since, really, a large number of them behave the exact same way, wearing the same clothes and doing the exact same thing. It's near impossible to tell all of them apart. Privately, she thinks that she class should be a lot more individualised. The more remarkable students, like the pretty Isaki Meiko, or the wild Sarushima Mari, she can easily remember. Oh, and Karma-kun, with his loud red hair.)

"...Shiota Nagisa-"

Nagisa blinks when she hears her name.

"And-" The teacher's voice is drown out as someone lets out a loud 'AH!' sound just to cover the word being read.

"-Karma," Seeming to take it in stride, the teacher resumes reading aloud without bothering to tack Karma's surname onto the back. As she continues reading out names, Nagisa goes still, wondering if she had really been paired up with _Karma_ , the most popular guy in their class.

Since Karma is making _no_ effort at all to move to her, Nagisa stands, takes her drawing materials and her sketchbook, and walks to Karma's desk.

"Karma-kun..." Nagisa calls softly, feeling awkward.

Karma, as usual, is surrounded by people.

"Oi, Karma, switch with my partner!" One boy is saying, scowling.

"Eh? That sounds too bothersome," Karma shrugs.

"I'll switch with Shiota, then!" one girl says emphatically, nearly clubbing Nagisa on the head. "We must protect you from that English girl!"

Nagisa falters.

 _English girl?_

One look at her, and you can tell that she is Japanese! Just because Nagisa lived in England means that she is...

Well, she sees no fault in being English, so she's not sure why their classmates are making such a big deal out of her being from England. Come to think of it, her partner during physical education, while they had been practicing the folk dance, had sweated a lot, seeming nervous, leaping away from Nagisa as soon as he had been allowed.

 _One might think that I had a disease_ , Nagisa sighs. _Well...there's no helping it._

"Karma-kun..." Nagisa starts timidly, the crowd around Karma keeping her from getting more than a desks width away from him.. "Hello, nice to meet you, I'm Shiota, Shiota Nagisa."

"Ah, Shiota-san," Karma greets her with a lazy wave, gesturing for her to come closer. Strangely, the crowd parts for her to make it through. "I was wondering where you were."

"You can just call me Nagisa.," Nagisa smiles, trying to make this light hearted. Twisting a strand of her long hair, Nagisa gets some inspiration for a conversation topic. "I think the teacher paired us up because we both have colourful hair, don't you think?"

"Maybe so," Karma plays with his own red hair, then reaches up and tugs a lock of Nagisa's long blue hair.

"That's a bit..." Nagisa smiles awkwardly, wondering how to say that, well, tugging on girl's hair is considered rude where she grew up.

"Whoa, your hair's really smooth," Suddenly, Karma sits up, beginning to rub the ends of Nagisa's sky blue hair. "How...?"

Nagisa _really_ feels awkward now. Stroking someone's hair is saved for if you're very close, or dating, right?

"Karma-kun, I'm really not sure how you do things in Japan, but I'm not used to having my hair played with," Nagisa bursts out with, feeling flustered.

"Eh? But-" Before Karma can finish, the crowd that surrounds his table suddenly explodes.

"Stop creating an atmosphere of a world that only has you both!" Someone yells.

"Karma-sama belongs to everybody!"

"Go away, foreigner!"

"You're so weird!"

"Freak! Your hair colour _so_ isn't natural, and your eyes are just plain disgusting."

Nagisa's eyes grow wide at the last one. Self consciously, she touches her eyelid lightly. _Disgusting...?_

"Shut up," A commanding voice snarls. Instantly, the uproar from their classmates stops, all eyes snapping to Karma, who had spoken. "I'm trying to do a school project with my partner, so if you would just leave me and Shiota...Nagisa-san alone, that would be most helpful."

As the crowd dispenses, Nagisa drops her sketchpad and drawing materials onto the ground. As she's about to drag a chair from a nearby desk over, a girl suddenly snatches it away from her.

"Sorry, I'm _using_ this."

"Oh, sorry..." Nagisa mumbles. She tries again a few more times, only for someone to appear and snatch the chair away from her.

Nagisa falls silent.

"Oi, Nagisa-san-" Karma starts, half standing.

"Shiota-san, you can use my chair!" A bubbly voice chirps, dumping the chair near Karma's table. The prettiest girl in their class, Isaki Meiko, beams at Nagisa.

"Isaki-san," Nagisa says softly.

"Don't worry, I'm using your chair, anyway!" Isaki shrugs, then gives a little finger-wave. "I hope you and Karma-sama make a good project!"

"R-Right..." Nagisa sits down quietly, then looks at Karma, who's cheeks have turned red. "Are you alright, Karma-kun?"

"Duh. Why?" Karma immediately responds, turning a deeper shade of crimson.

"Nothing," Nagisa hesitates, then lightly rests the back of her hand against Karma's forehead. "Your temperature seems fine..."

"That's not how you measure temperature in Japan," Karma clicks his tongue.

"How _do_ you measure temperature, then?"

"Like this!" Grinning widely, Karma stands and pushes back Nagisa's bangs, leaning forward so that both their foreheads are pressed together.

"Really?" Nagisa asks doubtfully. "But it seems awfully close."

"Right?" Karma laughs, seeming amused. "You're interesting, Nagisa-san."

"Maybe you shouldn't do things like this," Nagisa says, shaking her head. "I think using the back of your hand is better."

"Pooh," Karma sits back down. "So, what's this art project?"

"Eh? You weren't paying attention?" Nagisa exclaims. "The theme is...draw something you think is beautiful."

"I don't get it~" Balancing a pencil on his nose, Karma appears to be paying very little attention, but his eyes spell out another story.

"We each have to draw something that we think is beautiful every week," Nagisa explains. "And show it to each other every Friday. This, I believe, will carry on until the end of the year."

"Oh, now I get it," Karma takes the pencil off his nose, beginning to spin it instead. "Sounds fun. What'cha gonna draw, Nagisa-san."

"That's a secret," Nagisa smiles, picking up her sketchbook and a pencil, the lead sharp. As she presses the pencil lightly onto the paper, about to draw-

 _Your eyes are just plain disgusting..._

 _Snap_

"Ah, it broke..." Nagisa murmurs softly.

"You're probably pressing too hard," Karma takes the pencil from her, tossing her his. "I'll help you sharpen this."

"It's alright, I can do it myself," Nagisa reassures him.

"But _I_ want to do it," Karma simply replies with.

As he goes, Nagisa can't help but release a small bout of laughter.

Karma's a little strange, but he seems like a good person, and that's enough for her.


	14. Chapter 14

**Well, to clear up some confusion first (I'll probably dump this whenever necessary):**

 **People from Class A who dropped into Class E (in my story):** _Kataoka Megu, Terasaka Ryouma (because he was picking on the science dude? In Terasaka time...so...),_ _Nakamura Rio, Takebayashi Koutarou_

 **People from Class B who dropped into Class E (Also just in my story):** _Isogai Yuma, Okuda Manami, Kanzaki Yukiko, Sugaya Sousuke, Chiba Ryuunosuke, Hazama Kirara, Fuwa Yuzuki, Maehara Hiroto_

 **People from Class C who Dropped into Class E (Read above lol):** _Okajima Taiga, Okano Hinata, Kataoka Megu, Kimura Masayoshi (Justice), Kurahashi Hinano, Sugino Tomohito, Hayami Rinka, Mimura Kouki, Hara Sumire, Yoshida Taisei_

 **People from Class D who dropped into Class E (Also above...the last one!):** _Akabane Karma, Shiota Nagisa, Takuya Muramatsu, Yada Touka_

 **It's not really important, just something to 'help' later on (and I decided that I might as well, so...)**

 **Oh, and if you're confused...henna: it's this pasty sort of thing that goes on your skin, and then you wait for it to a) dry and flake off one by one or b) dry and you scrape it off (which is always fun) or c) scrape it off certain parts of it while it's wet so that the pigment in your skin will be a lighter colour and it'd be ombre. Anyway, the point is...it has a pigment and yep. It's actually really pretty. If you haven't done it before, you should try ^^**

 **Warnings: Uh, so far nothing...except...the roleplay scene...sorry...I WANTED TO SO BAD. I HAD TO RELIEVE STRESS BECAUSE OF THAT IDIOT TAKAOKA. Oh, there's some sadism on Karma's part. And some swearing.**

 **Oh! And please vote on the poll! The link is on my profile page ^^ I'm going to leave it on for another week extra**

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 _Chapter 14:_

 _The arts! Drawing! Tattoos! Acting! And...TAKAOKA!_

 ** _OR_**

 _Art Time!_

 ** _AND_**

 _Talent time!_

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"It's so _hot.."_ Kaede fans herself in an exaggerated manner, flinging herself onto Nagisa's seat.

"Kaede..." Nagisa lightly kicks the chair with her foot. "You're on my seat..."

"It's _hot_!" Kaede flails her arms for emphasis.

"We're in our summer uniforms already, Kaede. What else would you want me to do?" Nagisa gestures to their short sleeves. Since the change to summer uniforms, blazers and cardigans had been replaced with vests.

"Make it snow," Kaede responds, pouting.

With a light laugh, Nagisa hangs her bag on her desk and shifts her attention to Yada, who had called her name.

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"It's July First..." Okajima sits at his table, his hand propping up his head as he watches and drools over the girls entering class and sitting down. "Skin has such a dazzling colour...this is a hard season for healthy junior high school boys..."

"I know, right?" Letting out a deep, pleased sigh, Maehara mimics Okajima's position, sitting next to him.

"That won't do," Korosensei scolds lightly, an unreadable expression ( ' . ' ) on his face as he clutches a magazine with scantily clad swimsuit models on the cover. "You musn't let the season of exposed bodies distract you."

"You're one to talk, Octoperve!"

"The boys are being pervy again, Kataoka-san," Nagisa mumbles, standing off to the side of the classroom with Kataoka, Hayami, Kurahashi and Yada.

"Those two..." Storming over to the two boys, Kataoka delivers a chop to each of their heads. "What are you both doing...?"

"Eep!" Okajima exclaims.

"Boys are terrible," Yada shakes her head, crossing her arms. "Honestly, you'd think we were in swimsuits judging by how Okajima's drooling."

"Well, at the very least, not all of them are like that!" Kurahashi giggles, gesturing around the class. "See...uh, Chiba-kun isn't leering at everyone."

"That's because Chiba is just-" Hayami starts to say.

"That's because he has Hayami!" Appearing from nowhere, Nakamura sweeps into the conversation, giggling maniacally.

"No, it is because he is not an uncivilised monkey," Hayami corrects, narrowing her eyes.

"She _sayyys_ ," Yada giggles.

"Hey, Nagisa-chan," Feeling someone pat her head, Nagisa turns and sees Karma waving at her.

"Good morning, Karma," Nagisa beams returning the wave. Karma had had to meet his uncles or something this morning, which prompted Karma and Nagisa to not walk to school together, since they hadn't been sure what time Karma would finish. Grabbing Karma's wrists, Nagisa tiptoes and kisses him lightly on the lips with an exaggerated 'chuu!' sound, laughing when she sees the look of surprise on his face. After ruffling her hair, Karma goes off to his own seat.

"Aww..." Kurahashi giggles. "Karma-kun's another one who barely glances at the exposed skin."

Nagisa feels a swell of pride when Kurahashi says that, and hides her smile behind her hand.

"Rio-chan," Yada smiles, then twiddles her thumbs. "Do you still have the questions that I gave you to ask Karma-kun and Sugino-chan?"

"Sugino-chan...?" Nagisa murmurs. Nakamura snorts and bends over with laughter, but nods.

"Alright, go ask Chiba-kun, m'kay?" Patting Nakamura's head, Yada sends her off. _Huh?_ Nagisa had never seen Nakamura behave so obediently.

"What questions?" Hayami asks, tilting her head.

"Oh it's nothing, Rinka-chan," Yada waves off the question. "Don't think too much into it."

As the girls continue to chat, the door slides open.

"Oh...I forgot that we were wearing short sleeves today," Nagisa turns around, recognising Sugaya's voice. Her jaw drops as she sees the elaborate design that is inked on his left arm. "I didn't want this left arm, sealed by the gods, to be seen."

"Sugaya-kun! Wh...What did you do?!" The class yells as a whole.

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"Wow, so this was _painted_ on," Kurahashi laughs. "We all thought it was permanent!"

"It's called a henna tattoo. Once you've set the pigment, it can't come off for about a week," Sugaya lifts his arm, showing the interconnected brown lines. Nagisa stares at the designs in surprise. There seem to be several flowers interconnecting by intricately drawn lines that curve and emphasise the detail.

"Ooh, that's something they do in India, right?" Karma looks interested as well, something that surprises Nagisa.

"You know about it, Karma-kun?" Fuwa asks.

"My parents are crazy about India," Karma explains. Nagisa hides her smile behind her hand when she recalls the time Mrs and Mr Akabane had gone to India, returning with brown ink all over their bodies. "And always come back with henna tattoos whenever they travel there."

"It was funny the first time they did that," Nagisa giggles.

"You've seen Karma's parents, Nagisa?" Kaede asks.

"Hmm?" Nagisa tilts her head, wondering how she should respond to Kaede. From her friends voice, she makes it sound like meeting Karma's parents is something both terrible and amazing. Fortunately, Korosensei speaks up before she needs to respond.

"T-That's a relief!" Korosensei exclaims, stacks and stacks of books on his table. Nagisa manages to read a few titles, _'The difference between Delinquents and non-delinquents', 'Why is my youngster turning to crime?'_ and _'counselling for dummies_ ' being a few before he whisks them all away. "Sensei is glad that none of the students from this class are turning into delinquents!"

 _Korosensei weak point #10: He worries about keeping up appearances._

"As usual, you're really chicken about this kind of stuff," Kaede sighs.

 _Sugaya-kun is really good at drawing and sculpting. Everything from posters to disguise masks comes easy to him_ , Nagisa thinks, recalling the nose the gray haired boy had carved for Korosensei, and the disguise masks for Yukiko and Sugino.

"Want me to draw on you too, Korosensei?" Sugaya asks, drawing out two strange looking packets. It looks like icing bags, Nagisa realises, only filled with a dark brown substance. "I still have some material left."

As Sugaya squeezes some onto a tissue (something about 'clearing the blocked mouth'), some of their classmates move in for a closer look, Nagisa herself being one.

"Huh, it's just like drawing with melted chocolate," Nakamura comments, startling Nagisa, who had thought the same thing.

"Yep. Want me to draw on you too, Nakamura-kun?" Sugaya offers.

"Use '-san' at the very least," Nakamura laughs. "-Kun makes me sound so boyish!"

"But it fits you, Nakamura-kun," Sugaya replies.

"I'm really looking forward to this!" Korosensei takes one of the henna packets from Sugaya, drawing a line across his face. "I've always wanted to try getting a temporary tattoo like this..."

And the Korosensei's face starts _melting_.

"GYAAAAA!" Nakamura is the first to see, screaming aloud. Soon, most of the class joins her, scaring even Korosensei, who begins screaming and swatting at himself.

"I-I see," Isogai says, pouring some pink powder onto his palm. "S-So you grounded some anti-sensei bullets into a fine powder and mixed it with the henna dye..."

"I-Is that so?" Nagisa asks, her eyes twitching as she watches the chaotic scene in front of her eyes.

"Korosensei definitely didn't expect that, but..." Okano starts to say.

"But he'd have to sit still long enough for you to kill him like that, wouldn't he?" Hayami finishes.

"Oh, Hayami-san, you kept the hair style, huh?" Nagisa observes, suddenly realising that Hayami's wavy orange locks have been split into twintails, tied at the ends. It is the same hairstyle as the one that she had worn during the ball game tournament, to keep her hair out of her face.

"Hinano said that it looked like Bitch-sensei's hair when down," Hayami explains, looking annoyed.

"Ah..."

"Hrm, no good, huh?" Sugaya sighs, holding up one of his packets.

"The idea is an interesting one, Sugaya-kun, though as effective as a pinprick..." Korosensei praises, scrubbing off the dark brown paste. "...But I..." Turning away from Sugaya, Korosensei hides his face behind his tentacles, seeming depressed. "Really wanted you to draw a cool design on me normally..."

"I-I'm sorry!" Sugaya immediately apologises. "I'll draw one on with normal henna, okay?"

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

"Fu fu fu," Walking down the corridors, Irina snickers to herself, imagining the next few weeks of summer. To mark the change between her usual attire and her summer attire, she vouched for a vest, hardly buttoned more than necessary so as to show more skin, and a slightly longer black pencil skirt with a long slit cut up the side. "Summertime exposure and using feminine wiles go hand-in-hand for assassination..." Flipping her volimous blonde hair, Irina closes her eyes, thinking of the reactions of her students. _Wow...Bitch-sensei's so damn hot,_ she imagines the boys thinking as they stare at her pearly skin, exposed for them. Maybe Karasuma will stare at her mostly uncovered chest, wondering why it rustles so much...! By enchanting the men of the class, she'll finish up her work the way she wants to...with style and seduction.

Flinging open the door, Irina can't wait. "Revel in my charms, boys! Good-" She starts to say, then opens her eyes. "MorGYAAAAAA!" She screams, seeing the brown paste on all the students arms.

"Wh-WHY THE HELL ARE YOU ALL PUTTING ON MONSTER MAKEUP?!" Irina shrieks, pressing herself against the wall.

"A-Ah," A lanky boy smiles sheepishly at her. Sugaya, is it? "Everyone wanted some after they saw mine, so..."

"He said the pigment will set in after the paste hardens," The octopus says, beaming in goofy manner, the brown stuff drawing flowery diamonds on his cheeks and a brown garland around his hat. "I'm so excited, I can't focus on class!"

"YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE THE HOMEROOM TEACHER, DAMMIT!" Irina yelps.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

"Oh, Bitch-sensei came in," Kaede's mouth forms into an 'o' as she stares at the russian woman, yelling and arguing with their classmates.

"Heh, I guess so," Nagisa holds out her still blank arms. "Are you going to help me, Kaede?"

"Ah, but Bitch-sensei..." Kaede trails off, looking guilty.

"Never mind," Nagisa lightly shoves her green-haired friend towards their drama-causing teacher. "You go see what's going on, I can ask someone else, so don't worry."

"Really?" Kaede beams, passing Nagisa the small henna packaging. "Thanks, Nagisa!" Dashing off, Kaede runs towards the blonde lady.

"Need help, _Shortucaku_?" Nagisa smiles to herself when she hears the familar voice. Turning, she sees Karma, as she had expected. Strangely, he, too, has blank arms.

"Would you?" Nagisa tilts her head and beams.

"Of course," Karma takes the henna from Nagisa, tapping it against his palm. "I've seen some of the designs on mother and father, I think I can do a decent job."

"Really?" Nagisa stays still as Karma squeezes the henna onto her arm. It's colder than she expected, and feels more like paste than paint. as she watches, Karma traces a flower onto the back of her hand.

"Flowers are popular, and spiraling lines that are leaves," Karma explains, drawing a few curving lines, squeezing dots next to them. He draws another flower, linked to the first by the 'leaves'.

"So it's mostly nature related?" Nagisa asks.

"Yep," If one doesn't know Karma, they probably will have been surprised at his art skills. He draws really well.

Turning her head, Nagisa sees a few of her classmates pairing up, laughing as they draw on each other...

"Oh! Chiba-kun and Hayami-san are drawing on each other!" Nagisa exclaims in surprise.

"Really? How _romanchic_ (romantic)," Karma snort-laughs, his hands starting to shake.

"A-Ah, watch the leaf Karma, the leaf!" Nagisa exclaims frantically.

"Sorry!" Karma takes the henna away from Nagisa's arm, laughing and laughing.

"How's it _romantic?_ " Nagisa asks in confusion. It must be something pretty funny if Karma said that word in English _and_ started laughing hysterically.

"Traditionally, henna was for marriage ceremonies," Karma explains, still laughing. "It's hilarious, because I mentioned that to Chiba, but he's still drawing on Hayami-san's arm. I think I said that to Hayami-san too, and she's still letting Chiba draw on her arm...hah, they're both blushing...this is the most hilarious thing ever."

"Eh?" Nagisa's cheeks heat up. "So, when you were drawing on my arm...!"

"It's fine, anyways," Karma reassures her, beginning to draw on her other arm. "In modern times now, it's totally normal. It's fashion art...unless you want to think of it that way, of course."

"Then I'll only think of it as fashion art," Nagisa says dubiously. "Why'd you bring up the marriage?"

"Dunno," Karma shrugs, his hands moving in a quick pace. "Done. Want to ink me?"

"It's not like ink, more like paste," Nagisa corrects, taking the henna from Karma. But she starts drawing on his arms anyway.

"By the way, Sugaya-kun," Korosensei says, and Nagisa half-listens as she tries to draw a strawberry runner on Karma's wrist . "Watching you drawing made me want to do it too."

"Sure, but...I ended up drawing on a bunch of people, and everyone else who I didn't has already been drawn on..." Sugaya says, probably gesturing around the class.

"Ah!" Korosensei and Sugaya suddenly exclaim.

"What is it?" Nagisa asks, starting to draw little loops to form an intricately designed flower, connecting it with swirly lines...sorry, 'leaves'.

"Korosensei and Sugaya spotted an empty canvas," Karma snickers.

"Wait a...!" Nagisa hears Bitch-sensei screech. "Quit screwing around! Who would let you...GUEH!"

Nagisa hears a loud thump, then no further protests from Bitch-sensei.

"What happened...?" She asks softly.

"She slipped on a tube of henna and fell," Karma sounds amused, watching as Nagisa draws a linking chain of hearts and ovals. "Oh my god. She's a mess in a pencil skirt."

"Let's let her rest for now," Sugaya is saying.

"Why she's resting...I'll take this arm, and Sugaya-kun, you can have that arm," Korosensei giggles.

"Oh-ho~!" Sugaya laughs. "Planning to compete with me, are you?"

What...? Nagisa turns to look at the lanky boy.

"This is pretty cool, huh, Sugaya-chan?" Nakamura laughs, holding up her inked arms. "The whole class ended up taking up your style before you could blink."

"Sugaya-chan?" Sugaya asks, his eyebrow twitching.

"Nakamura-kun?" Nakamura mimics his annoyed expression, crossing her arms.

"W-Well, it's still really amazing!" Manami tries to be the peace maker.

"Oh, if the henna has dried, you can just scrape it off. You don't need to wait for it to flake off," Sugaya tells everyone, bending down next to Bitch-sensei.

" _There had been a time that his artistic tendencies ended up making him stand out too much, like he had earlier,"_ Nakamura narrates, making her voice deep and gravelly.

"Nakamura-kun, what the _heck_ ," Sugaya laughs, his hands shaking slightly as he grips the henna tubs and draws a heart on Bitch-sensei's arm.

" _When he drew an awesome sea spread, with the One Piece pirates and their ship on it...he was treated like a delinquent after..."_ Nakamura continues, seeming pleased. " _This was due to his idiocy...drawing it on the whiteboard during break. What an idiot."_

"I get it, I get it," Sugaya's still laughing, but manages to draw without his hands shaking _too_ much.

" ' _Between someone with only poor grades...and someone that, on top of only having poor grades, can draw needlessly well, which do you think will be more highly valued when you enter society?'_ Honestly, I would have chosen the drawing. At the least, you can be a mangaka," Nakamura snorts. " ' _This is_ _the very reason why you are headed to the E class_...' DUN DUN DUN!"

"Who said that?" Fuwa asks.

"His form teacher. The B class, that hag, you know?" Nakamura asks, tilting her head.

"Ah, Miss what-cha-ma-call-her?" Maehara asks, grinning. "I remember her. She threw a right fit when she found out that Yuma was going to move down to the E Class. ' _He didn't do anything wrong!_ ' She said. _'Don't take the beautiful boy!_ ' " Using a dramatic, warbly tone, Maehara flings his arms around Isogai. " _'_ _You can take all the others...!'_ " Maehara rests his head on Isogai's shoulder, his poor childhood friend looking confused.

"Huh?" Isogai says blankly.

"Oh! I'll be Maehara!" Fuwa exclaims, raising her hand. Moving over to Isogai and Maehara, she flings out her arms dramatically. " ' _Too bad, Isogai is coming with_ me _!' "_ Fuwa dramatically exclaims, in a poor imitation of Maehara's voice.

"But Maehara always calls Isogai 'Yuma'," Kataoka points out.

"But it's rude for me to do that," Fuwa frowns.

"How about I be me, Yuma stays as Yuma, and you be the hag, Fuwa?" Maehara suggests, lifting his head from Isogai's shoulder.

"Hiroto, you're going to wrinkle your uniform," Isogai scolds lightly, pushing his tawny-haired friend away, smoothing out Maehara's shirt.

"It's gonna wrinkle anyway! Fuwa, ready?" Maehara asks.

"OK!" Fuwa grins, then pauses to look at Sugaya and Korosensei. "You two done?"

"No, just carry on. This looks interesting," Sugaya replies.

"Are they role-playing?" Nagisa asks, the behaviour of her class finally making sense.

"Sort of yeah," Karma laughs.

"OK, then," Fuwa clears her throat, then makes her voice sound like an old lady's, shaking her fist at Maehara and Isogai. " ' _Don't take the Ikemen!'_ "

"Fuwa-san, not you too...I'm not an Ikemen," Isogai protests.

" ' _And don't let the stupid-but-good-looking-playboy go down too!' "_ Fuwa flings her arms out, narrowly missing Hayami's face.

"Hey! I'm not stupid!" Maehara protests.

"Well, you aren't, but you don't study, so..." Isogai laughs, patting Maehara's head.

" ' _Now what will I do?! There's no more good-looking boys in my class!'_ " Fuwa laments.

"Fuwa-san's really getting into it," Nagisa smiles.

"Yeah..."

" ' _Even the Emo Boy is gone!'_ " Fuwa adds, spreading her arms at Chiba like she wants a hug from him.

(He backs away)

"Wait, what?" Maehara pauses. "Chiba, you were in my class last year?"

The class goes silent, then Hayami lets out a "Pfftt...!" sound and covers her mouth.

"SHE LAUGHS!" Fuwa yells, forgetting her old lady voice. "SHE LAUGHS!"

"How rude, Maehara," Isogai chides. "Chiba-kun sat next to you last year for one term."

"Serious?!" Maehara gapes. "Whoa, I'm so sorry!"

"He forgot you," Hayami grins, elbowing Chiba. Apparently, the amusement that comes from the fact that _Chiba had been forgotten!_ Overrides Hayami's usual impassive mood.

"...I don't know whether to be insulted or amazed..." Chiba sighs.

"Both! Both!" Hayami declares, smiling wider than Nagisa has ever seen her smile.

"Ahem," Fuwa clears her throat again, slipping back into her role as the B Class homeroom teacher. " ' _At least I still have this gorgeous girl~!_ ' " Fuwa throws her arms around Yukiko, who looks startled to be included in the roleplay.

"Sorry, I'm stealing her," Sugino suddenly joins in, setting his hands on Yukiko's shoulders.

"But, Sensei...I'm set for the E Class..." Yukiko says hesitantly, also joining in, reaching back to hold onto Sugino's hand.

" ' _What? Even my beautiful student?! What about you?'_ " Fuwa lets go of Yukiko, seizing Manami's hands. " ' _You're very cute. Please stay in my class!_ ' "

"E-E-E-E-E-EH?!" Manami whimpers, turning fire engine red.

"She's also set for the E Class," Takebayashi volunteers.

" ' _Nuuuuu_... _' "_ Fuwa releases Manami, stepping determinedly towards Isogai. " ' _I will talk to the principal...please don't leave my class, you ikemen...!'_ " Faking her devastation, Fuwa buries her face in her hands.

"Fuwa-san..." Isogai begins, only for Maehara to hold out an arm to stop him.

"Stay away from Yuma!" Maehara declares grandly, pointing at Fuwa with as much flair as Naruhodo-kun from Ace Attorney. "He's going to the E Class with me," Maehara wraps his arms around Isogai protectively. "So go away, you hag!"

" 'N _ooooooooo...'_ " Fuwa dramatically falls to her knees, pretending to claw at her cheeks. " ' _My eyes will burn...there are no more good looking people in my class..._ ' "

"AND that's the end!" Nakamura announces, and Fuwa springs to her feet, bowing.

"What the heck?" Kaede speaks up in the silence that follows. "That was great!" She begins to applaud, enthusiastically.

"Brillant!" Yada agrees, laughing as she begins to clap as well.

Soon, most of the class is clapping, laughing at that performance.

"That was funny," Nagisa beams, clapping as energetically as Kaede.

"I know right?" Karma laughs. "Look, Maehara's drinking it in."

Sure enough, the tawny-haired boy (having released his childhood friend from his grip) is bowing deeply, turning to different angles before bowing again. About halfway through, Maehara grabs Isogai's hand, making him bow too.

"You know what?" Fuwa suddenly says. "We need Karma-kun and Nagisa-chan to do this. Act out their relationship."

"Eh? The act would be over four hours long~" Karma laughs.

"Karma!" Nagisa flushes, covering up her face with her hands.

"He didn't say no, though!" Nakamura slams her fist against her palm, smirking. "You hear that? He didn't say no~!"

"Karma..." Nagias whispers in a strangled voice.

"Finished!" Sugino calls.

The talk changes from the roleplay to henna art once again.

"What did you draw, Sugaya~chan?" Nakamura asks, leaning down... "Whoa! That's pretty!"

"Oooooo!" Sugino whistles appreciatively.

"Just what you would expect from Sugaya," Mimura praises.

On Bitch-sensei's right arm, Sugaya has drawn a beautiful artwork of henna.

"It was meant to be fashion art in the first place," Sugaya grins. "Just going outside with the finished product should make you feel great."

"Bitch-sensei should be more grateful than angry with this, right?" Yada giggles.

"Yeah!" Kurahashi agrees.

Nagisa can't argue. The pattern on Bitch-sensei's arm _is_ really nice.

"Hu hu," Korosensei snickers, attracting the class's attention. He's dressed up a little, with an artist's beret, sunglasses and a pipe, much to Nagisa's amazement. Where on earth had he gotten that stuff? "Sensei won't lose either! have a look at my side!"

Nagisa is even more amazed, or rather, appalled when she sees Bitch-sensei's left arm.

Korosensei had drawn a _manga,_ about summer clothes, a man, and an octopus.

Judging from the protests of the class, they are just as horrified.

"Well, sensei is no good at Art or Fashion, so I just went with my forte," Korosensei explains.

 _Korosensei's weak point #20: He can only draw simple pictures_

"If it's like that, then don't draw!" Okajima yells.

"The two sides don't match at all," Yada comments, sighing. "Bitch-sensei won't be able to go out in public anymore..."

"Nah, there are some people who consider manga as a revival of pop art, you know," Sugaya remarks, surveying the so-called damage Korosensei had caused. "If I play around with the borders a bit..." Kneeling, he begins to draw around the borders of Korosensei's manga.

"Oo!" The girls all crow when they see the flowery designs now surrounding the manga. It really does look nice, Nagisa has to admit.

"Hmm, if the end result is too pretty, she'll get smug," Korosensei makes a noise like he's deep in thought, lifting one of the henna packets. Nagisa has a bad feeling about this. "We need to put something on her that will gather laughs."

"Why are you competing like that?!" Mimura yelps.

"Korosensei's going to do something dumb again, huh?" Karma laughs.

Sure enough, Korosensei writes the words 'Medium-sized' on Bitch-sensei's forehead, drawing round glasses around her eyes and a squiggly mustache.

"..." Nagisa brings her hand to hover over her forehead.

 _Seriously._

 _Korosensei has a death wish..._

"Uh, the mustache isn't as tasteless as the round glasses," Kimura voices, examining Bitch-sensei's face. "Put a design on the frames..." Using henna, Kimura begins to draw wide rims around the glasses, decorating the top half with spikes and the bottom half with arrows.

"Well...it's more like these materials are hard to draw with," Maehara grins, taking one of the packets. "We can also use cardboard and markers..."

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

"We kinda got carried away," Mimura mumbles, the first to admit it when the class steps away from Bitch-sensei, surveying the damage. And some damage it is indeed. Somehow, Bitch-sensei is wearing a cardboard viking helmet, designed artfully with Korosensei's face in the front, there's a lotus flower on her chin now, in addition to the glasses (that Kimura so artfully decorated) and mustache. Someone had drawn a smiley-face on her exposed chest, and her arms...somehow, someone had put strange arm bands on her...her left arm boasts the word 'BITCH' written down it in giant gothic lettering, the right arm has a few giant flowers drawn, and a strange-looking pattern of connecting lines. Her left leg broadcasted several strange words with drawings, like 'Giant peach' with a drawing of the fruit with a face, 'Kneecap', with the drawing of a face on her knee and a cap on it, and 'moocher' (Nagisa really doesn't understand that one), with a drawing of a figure that looks like it's hugging Bitch-sensei's leg.

"Now what? This stuff won't come out for a week!" Maehara scratches his cheek.

"There's sorta a way to remove it, but...it's a pain," Sugaya sighs.

"W-Well, maybe there's a chance that she'll be pleased with it," Looking a little guilty, Korosensei gives a sheepish smile.

Blue-green eyes slowly blink open and Bitch-sensei stares at the ceiling for a moment.

"Ah, she's awake," Korosensei murmurs.

Sitting up, Bitch-sensei gives herself a once over, never saying a word.

"She's checking herself out," Maehara murmurs, and the class all wait.

Slowly, she stands, sliding open the classroom door with excessive force.

"She left...maybe she likes it?" Nakamura blinks in surprise.

"I'll go see-" Isogai starts to say, but Maehara's already popped his head through the door.

"Gya!" Yelping, Maehara leaps back. "She's absolutely furious!"

"Huh?" Unsure what Maehara means, Nagisa follows her classmates as they surge towards the door...

Oh.

Bitch-sensei has an absolute _aura_ of a demon as she storms down the corridor, holding two large machine guns.

"She absolutely hated it!" Kimura yells.

"THOSE ARE REAL GUNS!" Nakamura shrieks.

"Die! I'm going to slaughter the lot of you!" Bitch-sensei screams, entering the room in a barrage of bullets. Everyone dives for cover.

"We're sorry, Irina-sensei!" Korosensei yelps, using his tentacles to absorb the bullets. _Real_ bullets?! "We just got really into it...but please stop with the bullets or the classroom will be destroyed!"

"Stop it, Bitch-sensei!" Slipping his arms under Bitch-sensei's to keep her in a firm hold, Sugino pants, shouting as loud as he can. "It's supposed to come right off if you don't set it!"

"Shriek!" Bitch-sensei...well, shrieks. "My long-awaited summer wear is _ruined_!"

Seeing Sugaya near her, Nagisa offers him an awkward smile. "If you'd done all the drawing, I think she'd be fine with it. It's just cause Korosensei added the unnecessary stuff."

"Seems like it..." Sugaya gets a distant look in his eyes, half-smiling. "You know, last time, when I doodled on the back of my assignments, it kinda pissed me off when it was ignored. But that octopus...he adds on to my pointless drawings, and has fun with them. Though, if you think about it, it's only natural. There's no way that doodling should make me lose points. I mean, we're here to _kill_ him after all."

In front of them, Korosensei attempts to placate Bitch-sensei by feeding her pocky, even as she screams and shoots him.

"Even in this class, guys who are a little unconventional are considered normal..." Sounding a little pleased, Sugaya stares at the scene in front of them. Karasuma has just gotten involved, yanking Bitch-sensei out of the class. "This killing thing isn't so bad."

"It's pretty fun, isn't it?" Nagisa agrees softly, watching as Karasuma begins to scold Bitch-sensei right in the courtyard.

 _It's July, and with the start of summer fully underway, there are eight months left to assassinate Korosensei..._

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

 _On the flip side of the knife..._

"It's _already_ July!" The prime minister snaps, scowling at the people in front of him. "Are you telling me that there's been _no_ progress in assassinating him? Is the Japanese government even _doing_ anything?

"Prime minister!" One of his men chide, gesturing to a person who had arrived to see him. "He has formulated a plan in regards to that. A hidden ball trick, courtesy of our information bureau."

"Oho!"

"Hmm, this seems interesting," The prime minister remarks, propping his chin with his hands. _Hopefully, you will have no objections...Karasuma Tadomi._

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"Don't look away!" Karasuma shouts, standing at the base of the stone steps leading to the courtyard, watching the 3E students as they practise their knife work in pairs. "Predict your target's moves!"

 _Easier said than done..._ Nagisa lets out a gasp as her sparring partner, Okajima, nearly gets a hit on her. She manages to twist away in time, slashing widely at him. _Now, if I had been sparring with Karma or Kaede...it would have been easier to guess their next attack..._

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As his students prepare to test themselves against him, Karasuma begins to compose a report to his superiors in his head.

 _We're going into our fourth month of training, and more and more students are beginning to show promise._

 _Take Isogai Yuma and Maehara Hiroto_ , the two mentioned boys are dashing at him now, Isogai slightly in front. As they begin their attacks, Karasuma dodges and blocks. Mostly blocking. _They've got great reflexes and when they work as a pair,_ Karasuma starts as Maehara's blade hits his shoulder just as he twists away from Isogai's. _Their knives hit the mark more often now._

"Excellent. Both of you, take a point each," Karasuma calls.

"Alright!" Maehara gasps, collapsing onto the courtyard.

"Nice, Hiroto," Isogai pants out, dropping next to his friend. The two exchange high fives.

 _Or Akabane Karma,_ appearing from nowhere, Karma swings at Karasuma, who nearly gets hit when he fails to notice Karma's second blade. _He seems like the lazy, laid-back type at first glance, bit there's great eagerness for mischief in those eyes_. Karma works his double knives well, but his method is a little _too_ perfect. Karasuma easily reads where he's about to stab. Suddenly, Karma stops.

"Tch," He smiles dryly, stepping away.

 _And the girls,_ Okano dashes toward him, gripping a knife in her hand, however, Karasuma doesn't expect her to suddenly do a back flip, and narrowly dodges a kick to his chin. _Okano Hinata's unpredictable movement born of her gymnastics background..._

"Ah, so close! Megu, _go!_ " Okano says cheerfully, her last word said in English. As she steps to the side, Kataoka suddenly sweeps towards Karasuma, and he swiftly dodges her attack.

 _...And Kataoka Megu, who's reach and physical ability rivals the boy's,_ Karasuma ducks and blocks her blade. Indeed, Kataoka really is good, fast on her feet with quick reflexes.

"Ikemegu, _haruto_ (heart)!" Nakamura snickers, curving her fingers into a heart and pointing it towards Kataoka.

"What does that _mean_ ," Kataoka sighs. "Watch your sparring partner."

"Gyah!" Nakamura ducks as Kurahashi, her sparring partner, suddenly swings her knife in an upward arc.

Grudgingly, Terasaka, Yoshida and Muramatsu approach him. _The bratty trio of Terasaka Ryouma, Yoshida Taisei and Muramatsu Takuya still lack enthusiasm when it comes to training. Still, since they all have good builds,_ Karasuma swiftly catches the knife that Terasaka throws at him. _If they took this seriously, they could become great fighters._

 _Although no other students have distinguished themselves,_ Karasuma stands back and watches the class with pride. _Collectively, their talent has come quite a way._

Then he feels it.

It's an unfamiliar feeling that causes all the hairs on his neck, arms and legs stand up. It's a feeling that would have made a shiver rack up his spine. It's a feeling that makes him almost flinch, his eyes wide.

 _It's a feeling that is like a viper, coiling around him and trapping him, about to sink it's venomous fangs into his neck. A feeling that whispers 'Hurry, defend yourself, block the person behind or you might_ die _.'_

Without pausing to think, Karasuma whirls around, sees a flash of blue before he grabs the wrists on the person behind him and flips him, switching into a defencive stance.

The person makes a sound like they've just been punched, and that, coupled with the sound of the impact, attracts the attention of the whole class. Karasuma stares at the blue-haired girl now lying on the ground, slowly sitting up and cupping the side of her head.

 _Oh [insert four letter swear word here]._

"Ow..." Nagisa murmurs.

"Nagisa!" Almost instantly, Karma rushes to Nagisa's side. "Are you OK?" As he begins to check all over, the class stays silent.

 _[Insert four letter swear word again]_

Karasuma's eyes widen as he finally realises what he's done. "Sorry!" He says a little frantically, making quick strides to Nagisa. "I put a little too much force into my block there."

"Oh, I-I'm fine," Nagisa smiles gently.

"Like hell you are," Karma snorts. "You just got-"

"I'm _fine_ ," Nagisa repeats, patting Karma's shoulder. "Just a little dizzy."

"You gotta keep an eye on him, you dummy," Sugino laughs, but to Karasuma, it seems as though he's relieved.

"Er..."

 _Shiota Nagisa..._ Karasuma stares at the sheepish girl lying on the ground in front of him. _She is somewhat agile as a result of her small build, but she's a mild student with no other noteworthy physical capabilities._ _The strange presence I just felt...Was it just my imagination?_

The bell rings, and Karasuma scoops up his suit jacket.

He'll have to investigate this more...

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"Man, I can't hit him at all," Kimura sighs.

"Karasuma-sensei has, like, no openings at all..." Okajima groans, propping his arms up behind his head.

"Sensei! Come out for snacks with us after class!" Kurahashi beams, quickening her pace to catch up with Karasuma. Nagisa tilts her head. _I wonder if he'll agree..._

"I appreciate the invitation, but I still have work to do," Karasuma says not a change in his pace or tone. "I am expecting some communication from the government." For a second, a pained expression crosses Karasuma's face.

"Oh..." Kurahashi says a little sadly. Feeling sorry for her, Nagisa walks to her and pats her shoulder.

"Maybe next time," Nagisa tells Kurahashi gently.

"...Not even in his private life!" Okajima declares.

"Well it's more as though there's a wall between him and us," Okano sighs. "Like he's keeping his distance."

"Well, he takes good care of us and all," Kurahashi closes her eyes, looking greatly unhappy. Nagisa, feeling useless, pats her shoulder a few more times. "But is that only because he _has_ to?"

"I think the old man's just a little embarrassed," Karma pipes up, and everyone turns to look at him.

"Embarrassed?" Isogai asks.

"Old man?!" Okano protests.

"Karasuma-sensei is _not_ an old man!" Kurahashi yelps.

"Karma!" Nagisa calls reproachfully.

"Sorry, sorry," Karma chortles, but continues. "Who knows, right?"

"Rest assured class, that while Karasuma-sensei is an agent sent in for my assassination," Korosensei says calmly. "The blood of a teacher flows through his veins."

Just then, they hear a cheerful voice.

"Yo, Karasuma!"

"Eh?" Nagisa blinks.

"Takaoka," Standing at the top of the stairs that lead to the courtyard, Karasuma is standing opposite a pudgy man with black hair shaved at the side (A bit like Terasaka's) and small dark eyes. He wears a pair of black slacks, held up by a belt, and a white polo shirt and a blue jersey, tons of shopping bags decorating his arms. "You did come..."

"Well, of course!" Takaoka says cheerily. Without hesitation, he takes the stairs down two steps a time and drops all his bags onto the ground, pulling out a picnic mat and setting it onto the ground, sitting himself on it.

"Hey there! My name's Takaoka Akira!" He greets. "Starting today, I'll be working here to help out Karasuma, nice to meet'cha class E!" Then, he begins to unpack the bags.

"Wh-What's all this?" Isogai splutters.

Nagisa stares down at the picnic mat with just as much surprise. The sweets decorating the mat seem to sparkle, broadcasting how expensive they are. There are tarts, slices of cake, roll cakes, muffins, macaroons, cream puffs, meringues...well, just a whole lot of sweets.

" _C-Cake!_ " Kurahashi exclaims.

"And éclairs from Le Hermes!" Nakamura gasps.

"A-Are you sure? They look expensive!" Isogai yelps. He has an almost comical expression on his face, as though he is trying to calculate just _how_ much it had all cost and the results just aren't registering. To add to that, his arms are half out, like he wants to grab the sweets but can't bring himself to touch them.

"Go ahead, eat up!" The man, Takaoka reassures. "I didn't want to waste _any_ time getting along with you guys, so I emptied my wallet for this. Don't hold back!"

" _Emptied_ your _wallet_?!" Isogai gapes.

"Come on, Yuma! It's just sweets," Maehara laughs, scooping up an apple tart. "Expensive sweets, but we're being treated."

"B-But-" Isogai's protests are cut off as Maehara stuffs the tart into his mouth, picking up a piece of roll cake for himself.

"Well, you sure know your brand name sweets," Yada comments, picking up a muffin.

"Honestly, when it comes to me and sugar," Takaoka says seriously. Then, his expression clears, and he grins, looking a little embarrassed as he says his next words. "We're in love!"

Nagisa almost laughs. It reminds her of Karma and his sugar. She smiles slightly, from her position behind Takaoka

"You mean, you're in love," Mimura laughs.

"He sure acts cute for such a big guy," Okajima mumbles.

"Nagisa!" Kaede shoves a chocolate éclair into Nagisa's hands, her hazel eyes shining as she stares at all the sweets. "No matter what I say, stop me when I've eaten two of everything."

"E-Eh?!" Nagisa blinks and in a matter of seconds, Kaede's picked up three cream puffs, two macaroons, a slice of oreo cheesecake, a piece of roll cake and-

 _Eh?_

 _Where did Kaede go?_

"S-So, will you be taking over PE tomorrow?" Nagisa asks Takaoka when she can't find Kaede. Hopefully, the green-haired girl hasn't eaten _too_ much.

"Yep!" Takaoka turns to look at her, grinning. "Orders from headquarters! Gotta loosen Karasuma's loud, so-" He breaks off, turning his head.

Following his gaze, Nagisa sighs when she sees Korosensei, pink and drooling, eyeing the sweets.

"C-Cake..." Korosensei stares longingly at Nakamura's strawberry éclair.

 _Strawberry_...

"Oh, you must be Korosensei! Help yourself!" Takaoka invites. "Take as much as you want - we're still gonna kill you though!"

"For colleagues, you and Karasuma sure are like night and day," Kimura observes.

"You're like a neighbourhood dad," Hara smiles.

"Dad, huh? I like that!" Takaoka beams, slinging his arms around Mimura and Nakamura. "We're from the same class, so we're like one huge family!"

Picking up a piece of strawberry shortcake, and a blueberry muffin, Nagisa backs away from the picnic mat. _Where's Karma..._

As she thinks that, someone grabs her arm.

"Nagisa, come with me," That someone, Karma, namely, mumbles into her ear.

"Karma?" Nagisa asks a little blankly, then remembers the sweets she's holding. "Karma, would you like some-"

"Nagisa, come on," Karma pulls her arm.

"H-Hold on!" Tugging her arm out of Karma's hold, Nagisa rushes to Manami and Yukiko and taps their shoulders. "If you see Kaede eating a cream puff, she's probably had too much, so please take it from her and stop her from eating more! And Yukiko..." Nagisa shoves the shortcake and muffin into Yukiko's arms. "Share these with Sugino!"

"E-EH?!" Both girls yelp, but Nagisa chases after Karma immediately after, and doesn't see their reaction.

When she catches up with him, Karma takes her hand and pulls her up the stone steps to the main campus, leading her into the building. Nagisa jumps in surprise when she sees one of Karasuma's underlings, a woman with hair cut like a man's, standing in front of the staff room door.

"You may not enter," She says sternly. "Karasuma-san is having a conference inside."

"I don't want to enter," Karma replies, tugging Nagisa's next to him. "But please repeat what you told Karasuma a while ago."

"...You shouldn't have heard that," The woman says.

"Repeat it, Onee-san," Karma smiles a little dryly.

"Karma," Nagisa chides under her breath. Raising her voice, she meets the ladies dark eyes, which are conflicted. "Would you please tell us, Onee-san?"

"...Takaoka-san will be handling all things related to the students training from now on," The woman caves in, her eyes darting around the corridor. "But as a fellow member of the defence ministry, I worry for you students. After all, that man is an extremely dangerous deviant. And he is jealous of Karasuma-san."

"Thank you," Karma starts to pull Nagisa back the way they came from, so she quickly bows to the woman and follows after him. He leads her into the forest surrounding the mountain. They go quite a ways in before Karma finally stops, letting go of Nagisa's hand and grabbing her shoulders, resting his head against hers.

"Karma, what is it?" Nagisa asks gently, wrapping her arms around Karma and beginning to card her fingers through his hair. Is he alright? Clearly, something is bothering the redhead. From the conversation earlier, she can guess what it is.

"Nagisa..." Karma mutters, and he shuts his eyes. "Don't go near that man."

"Because that Onee-san said that he's a deviant?"

"Yes."

"Just because of that?"

"No, he's just freaking...well, he's from the Ministry of Defence, right?" Karma asks. Hesitantly, Nagisa nods. "And he was in the same class as Karasuma-sensei, right?"

"I would assume so, they were a little familar with each other," Nagisa shrugs.

"So it's likely he's strong. If he's behaving like that, some cutesy anime character, hiding his power, he's planning something. Skip with me, I dont want you to get hurt."

"I will be fine," Nagisa says softly, squeezing Karma's hands. "I have to attend if he's that scary. Our classmates don't know...they're familiarising themselves with him as we speak. I think we should both attend his class."

"Nagisa, when I look at that man, I want to punch him in the face, knee him in the **** and then run away," Karma says honestly. "And I have a horrible premonition that you will get _very_ hurt if you attend his class."

"...ah..." Nagisa closes her eyes, considering this. Karma's premonitions work on both his brain and instincts, both of which are fantastic. So it's likely that he's right. Still, she can't help but want to stay with her classmates, since she's worried for them. "B-But if we both run away..." Nagisa slowly opens her eyes, blinking multiple times as she tries to verbalise what she thinks. "I mean...our classmates don't know. We should tell them...oh, but what if you're wrong..."

Karma stares into Nagisa's eyes, then finally gives in. "Fine, but you...if you get hurt..."

"I will call you if something happens, so-"

"My, oh my, is this some lovers rendezvous?" A familiar voice drawls. A few feet away from Karma and Nagisa, Bitch-sensei stands with her hands on her hips. "I started heading down the mountain to buy drinks and instead I see you both here, holding hands, staring into each others eyes like two people out of a romance movie."

"Jealous, Bitch-sensei?" Karma asks, arching a brow, switching into English with a smirk. " _Since you are single and all_."

"Karma, that's rude!" Nagisa scolds.

" _Jealous? When I've had more experience than you?"_ Bitch-senesi snorts.

"Bitch-sensei, we're only fourteen!" Nagisa yelps.

"Going on fifteen. Back in Russia, you'd be considered a bit of adults," Bitch-sensei scoffs.

"Newsflash! We're in Japan!" Karma says cheerily. "And since you interrupted, Nagisa, we'd better be heading back," Karma gives Nagisa a quick kiss, and then lets go of one of her hands, making his way through the forest. "Let's go."

"R-Right..." Nagisa turns her head to look at Bitch-sensei. "Sensei...tomorrow...can you keep an eye on Takaoka-san?"

"Sure, but why?" Bitch-sensei calls back.

"No reason!"

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 _The next day..._

"Well, the gang's all here!" Takaoka grins, standing in the courtyard in front of the class, who stand in neat rows in front of him. He shouts so loud, Karasuma can hear him from the staff room on the campus, where he's sitting and doing work on his laptop.

"Hnnn," Irina stands at the open window of the staff room, resting her elbows on the sil. "I wonder why that chibi told me to watch him. It's not like I can seduce someone like that."

"Someone like that?" Karasuma asks, a little interested in what makes up Irina's seducing category.

"Someone so awfully forced," Irina turns to look at him, crossing her arms. "You've noticed it too, haven't you?" Karasuma doesn't react, merely clicking on an image of Takaoka and his underclassman in the army. There are four of them, five including Takaoka, who has his arm around two of them. For some reason, none of them are wearing shirts. Except Takaoka, of course. "And you're fine with it?" The picture shows all of them, smiling. "He was playing soccer with the kids yesterday, but I say this...glint in his eyes. As an assassin, I would straight up kill him and not waste time on seduction. For mild worry of my life. Not to mention, Karma's cutting his class entirely. He even warned his precious little girlfriend," _I know_ , Karasuma stares at the picture. _But still...he's probably a better instructor than I am._

"We were in the airborne brigade together," Karasuma finally responds. "I understand that he's a far better instructor than I."

"Hnnn," Irina walks over to Karasuma, spinning her laptop to face her. "You mean, what he said, yesterday, about how he could get them up to this level in a month, and not four?"

"Yes," Karasuma looks out the window. The day before, when Takaoka had accused him of 'slacking', he hadn't been able to reply, only weakly saying that the E students aren't soldiers. Takaoka clearly can tell the difference, Karasuma thinks, since he's down there speaking to them in such a friendly manner.

"What was it your underling said, yesterday?"

"You heard that?"

"Assassins have good hearing," Irina clicks on the screen a few times, her eyes narrowing suddenly. "A deviant, was it?" Spinning the laptop to face him, she crosses her arm, tapping the screen.

Karasuma turns his attention to the screen, and his eyes widen when he sees the picture on it.

It's the same picture of Takaoka and his underclassmen, but the underclassmen have their backs facing the camera this time, showing the long scars all over their backs and arms. Their hands are handcuffed together, and Takaoka smiles widest of all in this picture.

"A deviant," Irina reaffirms. "Now I understand why Chibi wanted me to keep an eye on him."

"No...no way..." Karasuma breathes.

"I don't know about you, but I'm heading down there and I'm bringing my knife and a bazooka," Irina flips her hair, pulling a bag out from under her desk in the staff room and sashaying out of the room.

"Bazookas are not allowed," Karasuma calls, but makes no move to stop her.

What should he do...?

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"Now then!" Takaoka grins, gesturing for everyone to sit down. After riling them up, with some 'victory chant' he's handing out sheets of paper. Nagisa is still on guard, and has a _very_ bad feeling about those sheets of paper. She swiftly checks her pockets, which she had stocked with first aid items in the likely even that Karma had been right. (After all, sure enough, Hazama had skipped class, and Terasaka, Yoshida and Muramatsu had left as soon as they saw her empty seat) _Instant_ _ice pack, bandages, band-aids, a small bottle of antiseptic cream, handphone..._ "Along with a new teacher, comes a new schedule! Pass this around."

Sugaya, who is sitting at the front, grabs one sheet and passes the rest behind. "...Our schedule...?!" His eyes skim the paper, then he makes a choking sound.

Nagisa snatches her schedule when she gets it, her eyes roaming it. All she can see is training blocks...lessons are from nine to eleven-fifty on weekdays, training from noon to nine at night. Sunday's are off, but Saturday broadcast one morning class from nine to nine-fifty, followed by training from ten in the morning to nine in the night once again.

"...! You're kidding, right?" Fuwa yelps desperately.

"Ten periods..." Isogai gapes, looking as though he has seen death itself.

"Training until...nine at night," Nagisa exclaims. If this gets carried out...her mother may very well kill her.

"But of course!" Takaoka holds up a finger, looking smug. "I even got the board chairman's approval! He said 'the earth is in a crucial state, so there's no helping it,'! Besides, following this curriculum will increase your abilities by leaps and bounds! Now, shall we get start-"

"Hey, wait a minute! This is impossible!" Maehara yells, leaping to his feet and storming up to Takaoka, waving the paper at him, speaking up what Nagisa and probably the rest of class is thinking. "With so little time for learning, our grades'll plummet! The board chairman _knew_ that! And besides, what about free time?" Takaoka sighs, beginning to move his hand. Feeling frightened, for some reason, Nagisa shoots to her feet, her hands clutching the hem of her shirt. "We can't do this!" Smiling angelically, Takaoka sets his hand on Maehara's head. Nagisa's eyes widen and she starts to move, but Kaede grabs her shirts.

"Hiroto, stop-" Isogai seems to notice something's wrong, but Maehara continues.

"Eh?" Maehara has time to say blankly, before Takaoka grabs Maehara by his hair and the back of his shirt and...knees him in the stomach...!

"Hiroto!"

" 'We can't' nothing," Takaoka drops Maehara onto the ground, where the tawny haired boy curls into a fetal position, clutching his stomach. Isogai instandly rushes to Maehara's side, rubbing his shoulder. "You _will_. Like I said: We're a family, and I'm the dad. Show me a family that doesn't do as the dad says." **[A/N My family I guess. We're more of a matrical family :O]**

Nagisa swallows. _This man is...!_

 _A deviant._

She's not the only one standing. Most of her classmates are, leaning away from Takaoka while staring at Maehara in horror.

"If you want to sit out, sit out, I'll use my authority to bring in new students from my private army to replace you. But I don't want to have to do that," Takaoka begins to walk among the rows of students. As soon as Takaoka walks away from Maehara, Okano hesitantly joins Isogai by the tawny haired boy's side, hovering over him as Isogai rubs his back encouraging him as he coughs into the dirt. "After all, you're all my precious family. A father doesn't want to lose even a single one of his children. Let's save the world together, kids - As a family!" He wraps his arms around Yukiko and Mimura. They both gasp, and Nagisa sees their pupils dilated in fear.

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 _You need only two things to win over your students; affection and fear,_ Takaoka thinks, smirking. _Given in a 1:9 ratio. Students who have been experiencing fear will fall upon themselves to please you as soon as they see so much a sliver of affection._

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"Well?" Takaoka turns to Yukiko, who starts to shake. "You're coming along with your old dad, right?"

Nagisa takes a step closer to Yukiko, and sees Sugino do the same, but leans back, changing her mind.

"I, uh..." Yukiko starts, slipping out from under Takaoka's arm and moving away from him. "I don't want to." Takaoka steps away from Mimura and moves a step closer to Yukiko. "I'd rather have Karasuma-sensei's class," Yukiko says calmly, smiling brightly.

 _Danger_ , Nagisa thinks, wishing that Karma had come.

Takaoka licks his lips.

And then...his hand snaps out, and he whaps Yukiko right across the face so hard that she goes flying.

"Kanzaki-san!" Sugino exclaims, rushing to her side.

Kaede and Nagisa exchange looks, then follow after him.

"Help Yukiko sit up," Nagisa instructs hurriedly. She has been hit like that before, and knows what to do. As Yukiko is being propped up against Kaede, Nagisa serches her pockets."A hit as strong as that might have injured her neck at most, but at the very least, her neck should be sore, so don't let her move too much. Her face will probably be bruised...oh, here!" Nagisa squeezes the instant ice pack (that she had folded in half and stuck into her camisole) (Also, from experience, she had learnt that squeezing and twisting it is faster than trying to use force and break it) then shakes it, feeling the bag cool down in her hands. With a relieved sigh, she presses it against Yukiko's cheek.

"Ah, thanks..." Yukiko lifts her hand and holds the ice pack herself.

"Seems like you don't understand," As they do this, Takaoka is still speaking, seeming annoyed that Nagisa had dared to speak up. He takes a few steps closer to the four of them, smiling placidly. "The only answer is yes. If there's a problem, we can talk it out with our fists," Winding up his arm, Takaoka is completely prepared for a fight. "That's one of your old dad's specialities. How about it, little girl?" He smirks at Nagisa.

Nagisa stares at him, not responding. _He's a bit like my mother...ah, he's going to kick me..._ Nagisa presses her teeth together firmly in preparation.

Sure enough, Takaoka doesn't hesitate, kicking her right in the face. Nagisa flinches and nearly topples over into Yukiko and Sugino, and is glad that she had prepared herself. If wrong, she might have bitten off her tongue by now. Or maybe gotten a dislocated jaw.

"What's your answer, little girl?" Takaoka asks, leaning down with a condescending smirk.

Nagisa is sorely tempted to spit in his face.

"Is that so?" Takaoka winds his arm again, but something stops him...

That something is Bitch-sensei, suddenly appearing from nowhere and slashing at him with her knife. She doesn't manage to do much damage on Takaoka, but does give him a shallow cut on his forehead that has blood beads suddenly coming from it.

"Need something?" Takaoka smirks.

"Hardly," Bitch-sensei blows her hair out of her face. "Nice dodge. But hey, I'm just the dramatic entrance."

"Stop it, Takaoka!" All heads turn to the source of the voice.

Karasuma dashes down the steps, cradling Yukiko's head as he examines the bruise on her cheek, batting away the ice pack for a second. When he's done, he replaces it on her cheek. "Are you alright? Does your neck hurt?"

"I'm fine," Yukiko breathes out. _No way you're fine,_ Nagisa feels around her jaw. _That man hits really hard..._

"What about you, Maehara-kun?" Karasuma asks , turning to look at the mentioned boy.

Maehara is sitting up now, Isogai and Okano fussing over him. "Y-Yeah...fine..."

"And you, Nagisa-san?"

"Hmm?" Nagisa blinks, starting. Judging from the feeling of her jaw, she might have a bruise there...maybe.

"I'm going easy on them, Karasuma," Takaoka laughs. "After all, they're my family."

"Not your family," Nagisa says crossly, then regrets it.

Luckily, he doesn't hear her, since Korosensei says something similar at the same time. "They're not your family," Korosensei growls, a bright shade of red. _Finally, he appears,_ Nagisa sighs thankfully. "They're _my_ students!"

"Korosensei!" The class class out in relief.

"Just what have you been up to while my back was turned?"

"Got a problem, monster?" Takaoka asks. "PE is _my_ class to run. And these punishments fall well within the bounds of education. I mean, I don't have much time to train these assassins to kill you. Of _course_ I need to be tough on them. What's your problem?" Takaoka makes a very ugly face now, his smile wide and ferocious. "Just because our views on education differ, is that any reason to attack a man who never did you any harm?"

In the end, Korosensei loses.

The class winds up having to do squats.

Nagisa struggles with them, her arms propped behind her head as she tries to keep pace with everyone else.

"Three...hundred...squats...? I...might... _die_..." Kaede pants out between squats.

"This...is no joke..." Sugaya grumbles.

"Three...hundred...squats...!" Okajima groans. "I think...I am actually...gonna...die!"

"Karasuma-sensei...!" Kurahashi wails.

She's a little _too_ loud. Takaoka hears her.

"Hey now, Karasuma's not a part of our family." Cracking his knuckles, Takaoka slowly moves in front of Kurahashi. "Punishment time," Takaoka begins to draw back his arm. "This is what happens to kids who don't obey their father!"

Nagisa moves before she's aware of it, rushing forward and pushing in front of Kurahashi, bracing herself for an attack. By the sound of it, she's not the only one who moved.

"That's enough. If you want to get violent, get violent with me," A familar voice says menacingly. Karasuma-sensei.

"Megu-tan, I was scared!" Kurahashi wails. "Yada-san!"

Peeking over her shoulder, Nagisa sees that Kataoka had pulled Kurahashi away the same time Nagisa had moved to take her place. Now, Yada has her arms around Kurahashi, consoling the frightened girl.

But surprisingly, she hadn't been hit. Slowly, Nagisa turn her attention back in front of her. Karasuma has a firm grip on Takaoka's arm, keeping him from punching Nagisa.

"I figured it was about time for you to stick your nose in, Karasuma," Takaoka still has that smirk on his face. He manages to struggle out of Karasuma's grip, though. "And I told you, it's not violence, it's education! I don't want to engage you through violence! If we do face off, it'll be as teachers."

Karasuma narrows his eyes.

Biting her lip, Nagisa fiddles with her fingers. Her phone is in her pocket...dare she call Karma?

"Pick out the student you think you've trained the best, and they'll fight me," Takaoka moves to his giant bag, beginning to take things off. "And if their knife so much as touches me, I'll concede that your method of teaching is better than mine, and take my leave..." Taking out an anti-sensei knife, Takaoka waves it around. "But, we won't be using these out things," the class stays silent...then suddenly Takaoka whips out a real knife, slashing it through the air and stabbing the anti-sensei knife right in the center of it. "Your target will be me, a human being, so naturally, you must use a real knife!" Takaoka declares, his eyes dancing with madness.

Yes...

I'm definitely calling Karma...Nagisa dials his number.

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 _A real knife..._

"Enough!" Karasuma snaps. _A real knife..._ "They're not prepared mentally or physically to kill a real human being!"

"Relax," Pulling the knife from the green rubber blade, Takaoka grins sinisterly. _This man..._ "Stopping just before contact will also count as a hit! And I'm barehanded! Just how much more of a handicap do you want?"

.. _.He's manipulating me,_ Karasuma thinks, staring at the pudgy man in front of him. He himself had heard stories of Takaoka's military days form his underling.

He would use this trick, Karasuma recalls, and beat down a new recruit who didn't know how to use a knife, so as to inspire fear and loyalty among the rest and show how he was better than them...

"Well, Karasuma? Pick one!" Takaoka jeers. "It's either that, or obey me unconditionally!" Takaoka flings the knife at Karasuma, where it lands just in front of him.

 _I'm still unsure. Is it right to accept his no mercy approach, when the whole world is at stake?_ Leaning down, Karasuma picks up the knife, testing it. It doesn't feel weighted. _I've been nothing by unsure since I arrived here._ Turning, he faces his students, taking in their faces. All of them look scared, trying not to make eye contact with him. _I'm not sure if I should be exposing a student with potential to this danger..._ But if he does not, the rest of the students will suffer. Slowly, he walks, making his way to a certain student.

"Nagisa-san. Would you do it?"

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Nagisa's head had been ducked down, her gaze focused on the ground, which is why she's surprised when the edge of a blade enters her vision. Then she listens to Karasuma's request.

"Eh," Nagisa starts, lifting her head. Me?

"Wait, why Nagisa?" Maehara asks. Exactly what she had been thinking.

"As someone who has charged you with an assassination mission to save the earth, I consider you all fellow professionals," Karasuma says. "As such, I believe that the least you deserve in return is an ordinary junior high life." _What is he getting at?_ Nagisa wonders, wishing Karma would hurry up and arrive. After all, he is probably the best at combat in their class. "So you don't have to take this knife if you don't want to," Nagisa blinks, and looks at the blade. It's shining and clearly sharp. _Wait, he's really passing it to me?_ "I'll make every offer I can to Takaoka and continue to provide you what you're owed."

Nagisa lifts her head, meeting Karasuma's straightforward gaze... _I like his eyes. Not even my family members would look me in the eyes like this. There must be a lot that is being kept from us, and I have no clue why he chose me, but..._ Nagisa reaches forward, her fingers wrapping around the handle of the knife. Gasps of surprise come from her classmates. _If he's the one handing me the knife, I know I can trust him_.

"Your eyes must be going bad, Karasuma!" Takaoka chortles, taking off his jersey and getting into stance, smirking. _Besides, I really don't lik this man._

Nagisa ignores him, focused on Karasuma, who's whispering instructions into her ear.

"Bring it on," Takaoka invites.

Nagisa blinks at him, keeping her face as impassive as Hayami's. But really...how does she move around with a knife? _Hold it like this, maybe,_ Nagisa rearranges her fingers around it. _And point it away from myself._

She runs through Karasuma's advice mentally. _This is combat, to Takaoka. But to you, it's an assassination. You only need to make contact once, that's all you need to win._

 _Right_ , Nagisa shifts out of her offensive stance, her hands falling to her sides. _I don't have to fight him to win..._ Out of the corner of her eyes, she sees a flash of red. _I just need to kill him._

So, Nagisa smiles innocently, the kind of smile one wears when they're pleased, and walks, her arms swinging at her wide. She walks normally, like how one would when walking to school, of a friend's house. She walks and walks until she bumps into Takaoka's arm.

Then she strikes.

Slashing up with her knife, Nagisa watches as Takaoka's eyes go wide and he tries to dodge, but he's too close to move much. _This is when Takaoka-sensei realises that he is about to be killed_. He ends up losing his balance, startled. _Everyone gets startled if they're about to be killed...even Korosensei._ With his center of balence shifted back, Nagisa grabs the back of his shirt, pulls him down and goes in from the kill. An attack from the front is easily blocked, especially when expected, Karma had told her once. Using this knowledge, Nagisa manoeuvres around Takaoka and restricts his movement by using her limbs, covering his eyes (since, according to Karma, losing your sight in the middle of a life and death is the scariest...uh, ass-shit in the world) and pressing the back of her knife against his neck.

"Gotcha," Nagisa smiles.

There's a silence.

Then someone starts clapping.

Nagisa turns her head. Standing a few metres away from the E students, Karma is smiling proudly as he applauded.

"Karma!" Nagisa detaches herself from Takaoka, beaming at Karma, her hands clasped behind her back.

" _Congradulashions_ (congradulations), _Shortucaku_ ," Karma walks to Nagisa and pats her on the head.

"But was I supposed to use the back of the knife?" Nagisa asks dubiously.

"Who knows," Karma takes the real knife from Nagisa, tossing it from hand to hand. "Hnn...Korosensei, _catchu_ (Catch)!" Karma suddenly tosses it to their teacher, sitting on the stone steps.

"NYUYA!"

"Stop being such a baby! Real weapons won't hurt you!" Karma calls.

"You were late, though," Nagisa pouts. "Maehara-kun got kneed in his gut, and Yukiko got slapped."

"Sorry, sorry," Karma pats Nagisa's head. "Now, the classmates that you like so much await!"

Their classmates take this as a sign, and rush towards her.

"You did it, Nagisa!" Sugino exclaims, clapping her on the back.

"Oh, thank _goodness_!" Kaede cries, throwing her arms around Nagisa.

"That was one hell of a fight!" Isogai praises enthusiastically. "You sure know your way around a knife!"

"Not really," Nagisa smiles sheepishly. "I just remembered what Karasuma-sensei and Karma told me..."

"Karma taught you how to use a knife?" Kaede yelps, looking surprised. "No wonder!"

"Hey, what does that mean?" Karma asks good-naturedly.

"But Takaoka-sensei really is tough," Nagisa nods to herself, recalling the feeling.

Quietly, Maehara approaches Nagisa, not making a single sound, to her surprise.

"Hiroto?" Isogai asks, since he's standing next to Nagisa. However, before he can say more, Maehara slaps Nagisa.

"Ouch! What was that for?!" Nagisa protests, massaging her cheek.

" _Hiroto_!" Isogai scolds.

"Sorry, I just didn't believe that it was really you," Maehara explains, throwing an arm around Nagisa. "But _sanku_ (thank you)! The assassination was a total rush!"

Karma blinks and stares at Maehara for a while.

 _Oh no..._

Without hesitating, Karma chops Maehara on the head.

" _OW_!" Maehara cries.

"Karma!"

"Hiroto!"

Nagisa and Isogai yell in unison.

"I'm so sorry, Maehara-kun! Karma sometimes doesn't think at _all_!" Nagisa apologises.

"I'm sorry for Hiroto, Nagisa! He's a total _blockhead_ ," Isogai says at the same time, and the two exchange looks, laughing. "But seriously, are you alright, Nagisa?"

"I am fine. Maehara-kun, are you alright?" Nagisa asks.

"Oh, he's _fine_ ," Isogai reassures her. "Right, Hiroto?"

"...Yuma, Karma's a little scary," Maehara whispers, ducking behind Isogai.

"You just slapped his girlfriend," Isogai sighs. "Sorry, Nagisa, Karma."

"Karma, apologise!" Nagisa whispers.

"Heck no," Karma smirks, then his expression turns concerned and he bends down a little, tilting Nagisa's head up so that he can see her jaw. "It's bruising..."

"A clear winner has been decided," Korosensei hums, eating the knife. "But honestly, Karasuma-sensei! What were you thinking, giving a real knife to a student? What would you have done if she had hurt herself."

Karasuma doesn't respond, only smiling.

"You were pretty lost today, huh, Korosensei," Koroensei jeers.

"You're actually a badass, huh, Nagisa?" Nakamura speaks over Karasuma and Korosensei's conversation, much to Nagisa's mild annoyance. "I mean, swing your knife and going 'gotcha'? So coool!"

"Right! You were so cool. If I get you some supplies, you can cosplay as-" Fuwa starts, then frowns, holding her hand out to compare Nagisa's height with her own. "Were you always this short?"

"Hey!"

"Brat..." Takaoka finally regains his bearing, standing and growling at Nagisa. "How dare you turn on your father figure and laugh it up over some fluke victory?! I demand a rematch. I'll tend you in two, body and soul!"

Nagisa stares at Takaoka. He really does resemble her mother...but there's a key difference.

Nagisa's mother is essential in her life, anod Takaoka is not.

"Hmm, you want a rematch?" Karma speaks in before Nagisa can, stepping in front of her, holding a spray can. "Kiss my ass, bastard. You're not laying a hand on her."

"Karma," Nagisa whispers, nudging him to the side. Looking Takaoka in the eyeshe speaks. "If we fought again, I'd lose for sure. But what's plain to see is that Korosensei is our teacher, and Karasuma-sensei is our training instructor. And that's final."

"What about Bitch-sensei?" Yada whispers, jabbing her side.

At the same time, Nagisa hears Bitch-sensei say "wait, what about me?"

"You are our Bitch," Takebayashi answers.

"You are so dead!" Bitch-sensei growls.

"You and your forced father-figure role does not come across even half as warm as Karasuma-sensei and his professionalism," Nagisa continues. Honestly, it's a little nerve-wrecking to be speaking on behalf of the class. "We're grateful that you tried to make us stronger, but please leave." She bows.

Takaoka goes silent.

Nagisa squeezes her eyes shut and stays down.

"I'm not going to stand here and listen to this brat mouth off!" Takaoka snarls, his bloodshot eyes dancing with madness and anger. Nagisa gasps and flinches as Takaoka lunges for her.

"Tsk tsk," Lifting up the can, Karma sprays it right in Takaoka's face and almost immediately after, as though Karma had planned it, Karasuma elbows Takaoka with such force, he does a flip and lands on the ground.

"I apologise for the trouble caused by my colleague. Don't worry, leave this to me," Karasuma says. "I'll negotiate with my superiors to resume my teaching position."

"Karasuma-sensei!" The class exclaims as a whole.

"Oh yeah, hey, Karasuma-sensei?" Karma speaks up, lifting his hand. "Can I keep this hunk of meat?" He pokes Takaoka with his foot.

"What would you do with him?" Karasuma asks.

"Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies~" Karma wriggles his fingers, bending down to peer at Takaoka, who's rubbing his eyes frantically. "Hey, Fatty. You're the second person on my hate list~I have so much planned for you. What should it be first? Rolling you in breadcrumbs and putting you in a room full of pigeons? Or maybe stuffing meat into your underwear and siccing my uncle's dogs on you? Oh, of course. I forgot. I have to tie you up first and step on your face, since you kicked Nagisa's. And I suppose I'll have to knee you in the stomach, and bitch-slap you hard enough to leave a bunch of bruises, since you did that to my classmates."

"Karma," Nagisa tugs on the redhead's arm, forcing him to stand. "Enough. In the unlikely event that Karasuma-sensei lets you-"

"Alright," Karasuma stares at Karma, then nods slowly. "If my superiors give the affirmative, feel free to keep him."

"Really? Sweet!" Karma beams, bending down to look at Takaoka again and pulling out the spray can again. "What can I say, asshole? Karma's a bitch~!"

"You think I'll let something like that happen to me?!" Takaoka yells, clawing at his eyes and rubbing his jaw. "I'll negotiate with them first, and-"

"I have more of that concoction that I sprayed in your face, so shut up. Seriously," Karma rolls his eyes, shaking the can.

"I will negotiate with them first! And then-"

Karma sprays him in the face again.

"ARGHH!"

"There's no need for that," a calm voice interrupts. All the students flinch, recognizing it.

"Board Chairman Asano," Seeming surprised, Karasuma (and everyone else) watches as the Board Chairman descends the steps into the courtyard, making his way to Takaoka.

Like moses with the red sea, the students all part for him.

"I was curious about how our new teacher was doing and ended up seeing the whole thing. Takaoka-sensei," Kneeling, the Board Chairman rummages through his pocket, using his other hand to grab Takaoka's face, making him eye level to him. Drawing out a sheet of paper, he crumples it in the middle. "Your lesson was a joke. Yes, fear is essential in education, but a teacher who can only instill fear using violence is a teacher of the lowest caliber indeed."

Wait, if he had been watching the whole time, why is he only interfering now? Nagisa frowns.

Almost gently, the Board Chairman stuffs the paper into Takaoka's open mouth.

"B-But...I," Takaoka's voice comes up muffled by the paper.

"Your notice of dismissal," Standing, the Board Chairman turns and walks away, mopping his hand with a handkerchief. "The ministry of defence has no hiring rights here. I call the shots in here, and don't you forget it."

"Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammmmiiiiittttt!" Takaoka curses, and Nagisa swears he eats the notice, but he jumps to his feet and dashes out of there, scooping up his bag.

"Eh? That's too bad. I was planning on testing out more of my concoctions on him," Karma hums, lifting up the spray can filled with whatever it is he had sprayed Takaoka with. "This one's really interesting, Nagisa-chan! Lemon juice mixed with ghost peppers and some chunky cloves and-"

"Uh, that's a bit..." Nagisa half-smiles, shrugging.

"Wait...T...Takaoka got fired...?" Kimura blinks.

"That means...Karasuma-sensei is back?" Okajima says slowly.

There's a silence.

"HOORAY!" The whole class cheers.

The whole class grows abuzz with chatter, everyone laughing and talking until suddenly, an unanimous agreement is somehow reached.

"Karasuma-sensei," Nakamura calls, walking towards him and Korosensei, who, for some reason, has a flower in his mouth. "Since it was us students who got you your PE job back, don't you think we deserve some kind of reward?"

"Yeah, that was the one thing Takaoka-sensei was good at!" Kurahashi beams.

"Hn," Karasuma smiles, rummaging through his pocket. "Well, I don't know about sweets, but here," Holding up his wallet, Karasuma smiles. "Go get yourselves something-"

"Steal!" Bitch-sensei declares, snatching the wallet and joining the crowd of students.

"Yes!" The class cheers.

"Should we call in the Terasaka Gang too?" Fuwa voices, tapping her chin.

"Why not? They're part of our class too," Hara laughs, fishing out her phone and dialing a number.

"Let's goo~" Nakamura cheers, and the class begins to walk off.

"Nyuya! Let me in on this reward too!" Korosensei exclaims.

"Eh? What for?" Okano turns back to smile sweetly at Korosensei.

"You barely did anything this time," Kimura agrees, shaking his head.

"No, no no! I watched in silent contemplation so that Karasuma-sensei could learn the value of being a teacher!" Korosensei yelps.

"Never mind him, let's go, Karasuma-sensei!" Kurahashi chirps, latching onto Karasuma-sensei's arm and pulling him along.

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"EH? He's coming after us on hands and knees!" Okano exclaims, causing the class to turn.

Sure enough, Korosensei is following after them, grovelling.

"Just how badly does he want this?!" Nakamura gapes.

"PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!" Korosensei suddenly speeds up, chasing after them.

"EH?!"

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 **Finally finished *sweat drop***

 **I've decided to stop giving excuses, but I've been preparing for a wake;;**

 **Okey, wasting no time *claps hands*, review replies:**

 _ **GingerHale** : Well, the main story is something you've heard before, so...I guess the extras would be more fun to read? :P_

 _ **TheJubilations** : Haha, glad you liked the panda cubs :) I love pandas, they're my favourite animal. And Young Karma and Nagisa would be adorable together! If I could draw well (Which I can't) I'd draw them together and slap it as the cover image for this :O The civil war...*clears throat* Uh, yeah...That chapter's going to be hard to write..._

 _ **OneWhoCharms** : Thank you very much ^^ I'm trying to carry on. I've gotten my head half stuck in the writing world (up to the point where my mother randomly kicks me out of the house) I'm glad that you gave me advice too :)_

 _ **DangetTheCritic** : Well, it wasn't? Cause in assassination classroom, the guys usually get the spotlight but Nagisa, the main character, is a girl in this so I decided to spice up the basketball match._

 _ **Tyrant Overlordness Luciela:** (I hope I spelt that right) Thank you! I hope you liked this chapter too ^^_

 _ **Amaya Kuruta:** Hi! Thanks lol XD I am still alive :3 I'm sorry for making you wait Although, this chapter was...a lot longer than normal, so... Oh, and yes, the girls won the bet, but the main campus thingies (Uh, I mean girls) thought they could trick the E Class into thinking they lost, that's why they were surprised when they knew the proper terms of the bet! I'll be continuing the last extra below *smirk* because I had fun with it. I felt mean torturing Nagisa, though...Thank you for the encouragement! *koala hug*_

 _ **Marshmallow:** Yeah...sorry for the lateness...if all goes well, I'll be updating again on Sat or sun, so...Also, your advice sounds like my older sister's. She's always telling me to tell our parents if I'm upset or sad (I don't really, she yells enough for both of us) You forgot about that chapter? *stares* ...well then :O (tbh I forgot about it too) And eep...I didn't manage to get it out on a tuesday or a friday, but I really will try to get the next one out by the end of this week (ok, gotta concentrate)_

 _ **IllusionofLove:** Aren't those extra's cute?! I LIKED WRITING THEM! Haha, Nagisa and Hazama being strategic just seems, well XD_

 _ **How very spartan:** Yeah, sorry I don't ship Hazama and Itona :( I'd love to give the whole gang more screen time, but it's a little hard. I didn't get the reference, but I did read a post talking about hair colours :O_

 ** _Princess630:_** _OOooooooo. Thank you ^^ What's in the envelope? Read down below *wink* I won't say which one it is though ~_

 ** _Xenocanaan:_** _Thank you!_

 _ **Shiranai Atsune:** Yeah, the chapter was different, neh? :) Well, Omaeda is a classic main campus girl. She's nice when no one's around to see, but is cold when there's people looking. Yep, Shuu-kun (born from Karma calling Asano 'Shuu-chan') (- spoiler) The letter is in the extras :P And yes, they won the bet, but sadly not the match. :( Extra #1 was like the prologue to the back story (That will be out a long time later) Extra #2: They did win the bet, but well, they were trying to trick the E Class into thinking they lost. Extra #4: yep, there's a continuation to it below. :) _

**_HappyGuy:_** _Yeah, I'm still alive :P Hope this one was too!_

 _ **Hello8215:** *opens mouth* *closes mouth* UH_

 ** _J.C:_** _Yay! Thank you XD_

 ** _xXBlackDragonXx:_** _Oo, really? Thanks :D Here's an update xD_

 ** _It Is I. ME:_** _Wow, really? It's nice that so many people like this story :O Nagisa becoming an awesome assassin would be so cool! And the civil war arc...lol everyone's been talking about that :3_

 ** _Hello8215:_** _Oo, You commented again XD No, sadly I won't be continuing it until I release the backstory._

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 _Extras #1_

 _(Continued from chapter 13's extra #4)_

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 _What should she draw...?_ Nagisa frowns, rolling her pencil back and forth between her fingers. She isn't extraordinary at drawing, but she isn't bad. She sits at her study table at home, a blank sheet of paper glaring at her, reminding her that Friday is in two days. It will be the first time showing each other their drawings, since Monday and Fridays are the only days they have Art Class.

"Nagisa, you wanted me to bring you something beautiful, right?" Her father asks, entering her room.

"Yes, sorry to trouble you," Nagisa responds automatically.

"No problem," Her father sets something on her table, and Nagisa looks at it.

It's three dark pink flowers, all with five petals. At the ends of each of the petals, it looks as though someone has taken a pair of scissors and snipped all the ends multiple times, leading to strands of petals spreading out like fingers. It reminds Nagisa of a snowflake, but dark pink. **(google up a picture for a more accurate description)** The flowers float on water, inside a ceramic green cup.

"What's this?" Nagisa asks.

"A popular flower in Japan," Her father responds. "It's called the Nadeshiko. I cut a few blossoms and put it in the cup. I thought it looked nice."

"Nadeshiko," Nagisa echoes. "I've only heard of the sakura."

"Yes," Nagisa's father nods, ruffling her hair. "The sakura is a lot more popular, but no one can deny that this flower is beautiful as well.

"Hnn," Nagisa stands, then turns and kneels on her chair so that she can see the cup from a bird's eye view. "It'll look nice like this..."

"Take your time drawing it."

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In two days, Nagisa _(thankfully)_ manages to finish her artwork. She waits impatiently for art class, that is the fifth period of the day. When it finally rolls around, Nagisa skips to Karma's desk, pulling her drawing out of her binder.

"Karma-kun," Nagisa smiles. "Did you finish your drawing?"

"Yeah," Karma pulls out a folded piece of paper. "It was murder. It took me all four days to draw it."

"Eh? Really?" Wondering just _what_ Karma had been drawing, Nagisa searches for a chair to sit on. "Uh..."

"Sorry, I'm using this," A girl takes the chair nearest to Karma away, and so does a few other students.

"Um..." Nagisa presses her lips together. _It's like Monday all over again..._

"Shiota-san! You can use my chair again!" Isaki calls, waving from across the room. "It's the one...uh, Chihiro, which one's my chair?"

Hisakawa Chihiro, Isaki's art partner, sighs, pushing up her glasses. "Yamanda-san," the boy Hisakawa calls freezes, slowly standing.

"Yes, Hisakawa-san?" He asks.

"Meiko wants to lend her chair to Shiota-san, so if you would...?" Hisakawa trails off meaningfully, and the boy, Yamada, grudgingly passes the chair to Nagisa.

"Ah, _thank you,_ Isaki-san, Hisakawa-san," Nagisa calls, moving the chair to Karma's desk and sitting down. "Sorry, Karma-kun."

"Here," Karma passes her the folded piece of paper, taking her drawing from her. "What'cha draw?" He stares at it a bit, then folds it up, keeping it in his pocket.

"Eh, Karma-kun, that was my drawing..." Nagisa says awkwardly, beginning to unfold Karma's.

"I liked it, so I'm keeping it," Karma shrugs.

"You liked it?" Nagisa beams, feeling pleased. "Really?"

"Yeah. The nadeshiko is my mother's favourite flower," Karma watches her as she finally undoes the last fold.

"Oh!" Nagisa exclaims when she sees the drawing.

On the paper, in landscape, Karma has drawn a beautiful pair of large, blue eyes. He's done them wonderfully, so that they look like they may come alive on paper.

"It's so nice! Who's eyes are these?" Nagisa asks, beaming.

"Who knows," Blushing, for some reason, Karma averts his eyes. "Why don't you take a guess?"

"Hmm," Nagisa stares at the eyes, then looks up at Karma. "Someone close to you, I think. You've done them so detailed!"

"Well, not really," Karma blushes even redder. "It's not the eyes of someone close to me, but someone I want to be close to."

"Really?" Nagisa carefully smoothens out the drawing. "That must be a lucky person!"

"...You are so dense," Groaning, Karma covers his face with his hands. "Honestly, all girls are such..."

"Dense..." Nagisa tilts her head. She doesn't recognise that word. "What's dense?"

" _Dense_ ," Karma says in English, eyeing her.

"...I guess I am," Nagisa smiles, feeling embarrassed. Karma doesn't mean...her, does he? No, her eyes aren't this beautiful.

"I mean you, Nagisa-san. Geez," Karma facepalms, groaning. "Jeez, do all fair-headed people have mush for brains?"

"M-Me?" Nagisa stammers.

"Yeah, _duh_ ," Karma blinks in surprise. "Who else is named Nagisa-san in this class."

"Oh," Nagisa mulls over his words, then smiles, sticking out her hand. "I'm Nagisa Shiota."

"You're in Japan. Surname before given name," Karma shrugs, then stares at her hand. "Haven't we done this before?"

"We're doing it again," Nagisa takes Karma's hand, giving it a firm shake. "I'm Shiota Nagisa. I look forward to working with you."

"I'm Karma," Karma squeezes her hand, smiling. "Nice to meetcha."

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 _Extras #2:_

 _The letter from Asano Gakushuu (That Nagisa completely forgot she had [and therefore never saw] and that Karma found)_

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"Hey, Nagisa? Can I borrow your english textbook?" Karma asks, coming through Nagisa's window.

"Oh, you surprised me," Nagisa blinks, staring at Karma. She sits on her bed, reading a book. "Go ahead, it's in my school bag."

"Alright," Karma slips into her room, picking up her bag and rummaging it. Then, he draws out an envelope, staring at it blankly. "Hey, what's this?"

"What's what?" Nagisa doesn't look up from her book, her eyes darting up and down as she reads. **[A/N reminder that Japanese books are written with kanji]**

"This envelope?" Karma waves it at Nagisa, who looks up for about two seconds, then refocuses on her book.

"I don't know. Can you help me open it?" Nagisa asks, flipping the page.

"Just what kind of book is that?" Karma mumbles to himself. He had never seen Nagisa so into a book like this one. "So I can open and read it?"

"Sure."

"Alright then," Tearing it open, Karma takes out the sky blue paper, his eyes moving over the carefully penned words.

...

 _Dear Shiota Nagisa,_

 _How have you been? I haven't seen you since the end of second year, but I suppose it's my fault. After all, I shouldn't have asked to exchange contact information in front of your Akabane-kun._

 _And I will say this first:_ _I am about to break our promise, my apologies for that._

 _Prepare yourself._

 _I_ will _take you from Akabane._

Asano Gakushuu

...

"It's from Shuu-chan," Karma walks to Nagisa's desk, taking out a piece of paper.

"Oh, right. Omaeda-san passed it to me," Nagisa recalls, seeming to only be half-listening. "What does it say?"

"Lol, something about taking you from me," Karma snickers, beginning to write a reply.

"It isn't going to happen, though," Nagisa says doubtfully, flipping the page of her book. "Shuu-kun should know that. Besides, he promised me he'd stop."

"He also says 'I am about to break our promise'," Karma reads aloud.

"Shuu-kun would be a good match for Manami-san," Nagisa hums. "Or Kaede. Both their personalities would be complimentary to his...Karma, what are you doing?"

"Writing a reply," Karma finishes the short note,

 _..._

 _Shuu-chan,_

 _Challenge freaking accepted._

 _Come at me, Shuu-chan :)_

Akabane Karma

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 **But seriously, go google up the Nadeshiko Flower. It's really pretty and I had no idea how to describe it :P**

 **Oh, and see you on Sat/Sun, hopefully *squirms***


	15. Chapter 15

**Oh, wow, I already sorta need the class chart from last chapter:**

 **People from Class A who dropped into Class E (in my story):** _Kataoka Megu, Terasaka Ryouma (because he was picking on the science dude? In Terasaka time...so...),_ _Nakamura Rio, Takebayashi Koutarou_

 **People from Class B who dropped into Class E (Also just in my story):** _Isogai Yuma, Okuda Manami, Kanzaki Yukiko, Sugaya Sousuke, Chiba Ryuunosuke, Hazama Kirara, Fuwa Yuzuki, Maehara Hiroto_

 **People from Class C who Dropped into Class E (Read above lol):** _Okajima Taiga, Okano Hinata, Kataoka Megu, Kimura Masayoshi (Justice), Kurahashi Hinano, Sugino Tomohito, Hayami Rinka, Mimura Kouki, Hara Sumire, Yoshida Taisei_

 **People from Class D who dropped into Class E (Also above...the last one!):** _Akabane Karma, Shiota Nagisa, Takuya Muramatsu, Yada Touka_

 **WARNINGS: Uh...**

 **none? Oh! The site will not let me use the arrows. Like you know the right and left arrows that you use in emojis? IT WON'T LET ME! WHYYYY! THE POOR EMOJIS**

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 _Chapter 15:_

 _Ikemegu and Poisson_

 **OR**

 _Swimming time!_

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"So hoooooooooooot," Mimura groans, his head resting on the table. "Nowadays, a classroom with no AC is hell..."

Nagisa can't help but agree, briskly folding herself a paper fan and fanning herself, offering some small relief.

"Nagisa, get me one of those," Kaede leans across the aisle, wrapping her arms around Nagisa.

"Kaede, it's so hot," Nagisa pushes her off, handing her the fan she had just folded.

"How undisciplined. It's a given that summer would be hot," Korosensei mutters, looking like he has melted on his teacher's table. Even so, he uses his pointer to tap the board, where a map of the world had been artfully drawn by Sugaya. "We live in a humid subtropical environment, so we will simply have to tolerate it. By the way, Sensei will be making a run to the arctic."

 _Korosensei's Weakness #21: Heat Fatigue_

"NO FAIR!"

"Well, at least the pool opens today!" Kurahashi stands, beaming as she lifts her sports bag. "I'm really looking forward to PE~"

"Nah, that pool would be hell for us in class E," Kimura lifts his head, turning to look at Kurahashi. "The pool's only in the main building, anyway, so we'd have to make a one kilometer road trip along the mountain road under the blazing sun."

"I remember that," Okajima groans. "They called it the 'Class E Pool Death March'. I guess I never expected to be part of it."

"And Karasuma-sensei's away today," Nakamura groans

"Ugh...c'mon, carry us to the main building, Korosensei," Maehara groans.

"Geez, I guess there's no helping it," Korosensei scratches himself with the pointer. _What, really?_ Nagisa perks up. "Is what I'd like to say," _Oh..._ Nagisa frowns, shaking her head and folding herself another fan. "However, you can't rely on sensei's speed!" Korosensei's face turns purple, with a cross over it. "There are things that can be done without Mach 20 speed!'

"That's true, but..." Maehara groans. "Can't you help us out? It's so _hot_."

"Still I understand how you feel, so, everyone, change into your swimsuits and follow me!" Korosensei leaves his book on the table, starting out of the class. "There's a small stream nearby, along the other side of the mountain, right? Let's go there and cool off.

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When everyone's changed into their PE Clothes, Korosensei begins leading them down the mountain, fanning himself with a Korosensei themed fan.

"So the other side of the mountain had a stream, huh?" Hayami murmurs.

Nagisa hadn't known that either. Exploring the mountain hadn't been one of her concerns.

"If you can call it that," Chiba replies, shrugging. "Even if you can call it a stream, it's ankle deep at best."

"Well, we'll be able to play around and splash each other a bit, so that'll be good at the least," Sugino sighs.

Nagisa flinches as she trips over a root.

"Up you go," Karma grabs her arms before she can fall. "Better stick to me, _Shortucaku_." Holding out his arm to her, like a gentleman escorting a lady, Karma grins.

"Alright," Nagisa half-smiles, taking Karma's arm.

"Are you alright?" Karma asks quietly as they walk. "That woman, did she...?"

"Ah, uh," Nagisa smiles sheepishly, lowering her voice. "There's a few bruises on my back and stomach, but it's covered."

"What are you talking about, Nagisa-san, Karma-san?" Ritsu asks from Nagisa's phone, which is in her hand. According to Ritsu, it is easiest to pop up to Nagisa, since she always has her phone with her.

"And the one on your jaw," Karma nods, then turns, calling to Maehara. "Hey, bastard playboy, do you have a knee mark on your stomach?"

"Would it kill you to learn my name, Karma?" Maehara responds, sighing. "It's not bastard playboy, it's Maehara Hiroto."

"Do you have a knee mark?" Karma sticks out his tongue. "Cause of that fatass?"

"...Yeah, I have a bruise," Maehara admits, shrugging. "But it was alright, cause my date from another school was fussing over me and that was nice."

"Nice to know that my fussing wasn't appreciated," Okano sputs out, scowling.

"You don't count, your gender is 'Okano Hinata' and not 'Female'," Maehara jokes.

"SHUT UP!" Okano punches Maehara's arm. _Ouch_...

"Sorry, Okano-san, Hiroto is just a little..." Isogai trails off, seeming undecided on how to describe

"Bastard playboy!" Nakamura crows, seeming amused. "Bastard playboy, bastard playboy~"

"Don't call me that!"

"Oh, I nearly forgot. Yukiko, do you have a bruise?" Nagisa asks, recalling the hit the dark haired girl had taken.

"I'm fine," Yukiko replies, which isn't really an answer.

"Where do you think Korosensei's taking us, Kanzaki-san?" Sugino asks, trying to start up a conversation.

"Isn't he taking us to the stream?"

"Hey, _Shortucaku_ , you should try what you did on that fatass on Korosensei," Karma suddenly says.

"Huh?" Nagisa mulls it over, then smiles. "...No, I don't think that it would work on Korosensei," _After all, we try assassination after assassination attempt every day, but we still have yet to assassinate him for real._

"Indeed not," Ritsu hums from Nagisa's phone.

"Now then, everyone," Korosensei calls, stopping his tracks. "I said it earlier, right? There are things that can be done without Mach 20 speed?" Nagisa blinks in surprise, wondering what he is getting. "One such thing that cannot be done without it is taking you to the pool. That would take an entire day."

"Don't exaggerate, Korosensei," Isogai shakes his head, frowning slightly. "A day...it's only a twenty minute trek down to the main campus' pool..."

'Hmm, who said anything about the main campus?" Korosensei smirks, brushing aside some leaves to reveal a small glimpse of glistening water.

...

The class forges forward, all rushing towards the spot where they caught sight of the water. When they break through the foliage of the forest, everyone gasps, staring at the sight in front of them.

Contrary to what Chiba had said, the sight in front of them is no small stream. Instead, a huge pool, hollowed into the rocks, greats them. It's easily big enough to hold twenty-six (...twenty seven...including Ritsu...?) people. A strange contraption is at the end of the pool, damming up the water, and someone, most likely Korosensei, had strung lines across, to show the lanes of the pool while still leaving lots of space for free swimming. To add to it, there's even a seat for a lifeguard, and a few beach chairs for people to lie on, the trees shielding them.

"Whoa...!"

"Seeing as I dammed up the small stream, it takes 20 hours for the water to accumulate," Korosensei smirks. "The twenty-five meter-long course is perfectly maintained. If we drain the water out during the off-season, it will revert to it's previous state. And if we adjust the water level, we will be able to keep and observe fish from here!"

 _Wow, Korosensei really thought this through_.

"One day for it's creation, and one minute to get here. And, as soon as you remove your jerseys, you can jump in."

"YAHOO!" Maehara, Mimura and Okajima shout, leaping in, and the rest of the class soon follows suit.

 _Because he does things like this for us, it's going to be hard to kill our teacher!_ Nagisa smiles to herself, cannon-balling into the water.

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Splashing in the pool is really fun and cooling, Nagisa thinks, floating on her back. Standing up (Her shoulders just about cleared the water) she gives a quick glance at what everyone else in her class is doing.

Maehara, Chiba, Sugino, Karma and Kataoka (who's winning) are racing through the lanes with the front crawl, gathering a few spectators (Yukiko, Manami, Mimura and Isogai). Kurahashi, Yada and Hayami are playing with a ball...that's patterned with the design of Korosensei's face. Nakamura, Fuwa and Hara float near a large rock a bit aways from where Nagisa is, and she can hear Nakamura's loud laughter echoing in the air as Hara facepalms. Kaede floats in an inner tube, holding onto a Korosensei ball and staring at the sky while Okajima sits on dry land, a SLR camera held close to his face as he snaps pictures. Hazama longues on one of the beach chairs, calmly reading a book, and Kimura is half-way out of the water, seeming to want to fetch something. Sugaya and Okano are arguing loudly about something or another, probably something to do with Sugaya's body henna - Okano is gesturing to it empathetically (Although, come to think of it, most of everyone's henna had worn off, but Sugaya's is still fresh on his arm). Terasaka, Muramatsu and Yoshida hover near Korosensei's contraption, seeming interested in it, and, strangely, Takebayashi hangs near them, reading through a few sheets of paper that he holds above the water as he speaks, gesturing occasionally towards the contraption. Ritsu, naturally, can't enter the water, but Nagisa had placed her phone into a ziplock bag, and is holding it now.

"Ah, it's my first time in a pool!" Ritsu says cheerfully as Nagisa places her bagged up phone into the water carefully, her hands preventing it from completely submerging. "It's colder than I thought!"

"Ritsu, you can feel the pool?" Nagisa asks, surprised.

"A little. As the back of your phone is metal, thank you for removing your phone case, Nagisa-san, I can sort of feel the temperature of my surroundings."

"But you're...in a..."

"Ziplock bag? The water from the pool has cooled the plastic," Ritsu replies, beaming. "It's quite an experience! You may lift me up now. I think I've had enough of the pool for today, Nagisa-san."

Nagisa starts swimming to the dry rocks, hoping to put Ritsu down there when Nakamura calls out to her.

"Nagisa!"

"Please give me a second, sorry," Nagisa replies, speeding up. Pulling herself onto land, she quickly walks to Hazama. Ever since the basketball game, the two girls have had a sort of mutual understand, and get along. "Hazama-san, if you may, could you please keep Ritsu entertained? She's had enough of the pool," Nagisa passes the phone to Hazama.

Wordlessly, the dark-haired girl nods, placing the phone on the table next to the beach chair.

"Hey, Hazama-san? Is it rude to ask how your eyelashes became so long?" Ritsu is asking as Nagisa walks away, hopping back into the pool. "I've read online about how girls with long lashes are beautiful."

"Beauty is subjective," Is Hazama's short reply, before she sighs and adds more. "And it's just because of genetics."'

"On the topic of genetics..."

Smiling to herself, Nagisa swims towards Nakamura, Fuwa and Hara.

"This is fun, but I kinda feel down," Nagisa hears Kaede mumble as she swims past her. "I'm no good at swimming, and the school swimsuit is really form-fitting..."

Before Nagisa can offer any reassurance to her friend, she hears Okajima answer. "Don't worry, Kayano. Someday, somewhere, that sort of body will also be in demand," He says wisely, snapping pictures of Fuwa, Kurahashi and Hayami.

"...right...acting gentlemanly while you're taking peepings pictures is a bit...you know, Okajima."

"Yes, Nakamura-san?" Nagisa asks, finally arriving where Nakamura, Fuwa and Hara are.

"Nakamura, if you say what you just told Fuwa, I will definitely tell Yada," Hara threatens, frowning.

"Scary, scary," Nakamura giggles, then suddenly tackles Nagisa in a hug. "You're so _cute,_ Nagisa!"

"Nakamura-san..." Nagisa gasps, pushing the blonde girl away. "Ouch!"

"Oh, yes, your jaw, I forgot," Nakamura nods, then giggles. "You really are a girl~!" wrapping her arms around Nagisa again, Nakamura takes an exaggerated sniff.

"You're saying this _now_?" Nagisa growls, annoyed. She knows that she's sort of androgynous, but still...!

"Of course I am!" Nakamura sing-songs, then turns to Fuwa. "Right?"

"Well, you can't really blame us Nagisa," Fuwa sticks out her tongue, shrugging. "But Rio, you can see Nagisa's curves!"

"But she's so-"

Without hesitating, Hara dunks the two girl's heads into the water. "You better escape, Nagisa," Hara says calmly as Nakamura and Fuwa struggle.

"Whoa, don't drown Nakamura-kun, Hara!" Sugaya breaks away from his argument with Okano, swimming over to the girls and grabbing Nakamura's arm, dragging her up. "I still haven't finished my painting with her as a model!"

 _Wait, what?_ Nagisa gives Sugaya a surprised look, then swims away. Seeing that the race is over, Nagisa quickly goes to speak to Karma.

"Karma!" She calls, waving.

"And that's my cue!" Karma flicks water at Sugino, then dives under the marked lanes to the area Nagisa's in. "What's up? If you're wondering, Kataoka won."

"You're calling her by name," Nagisa notes, smiling. Seems like Karma is warming up to their classmates.

"She beat me at freestyle," Karma shrugs. "I kinda have to acknowledge her."

"Right," Nagisa laughs, then blinks, recalling the other night, when Karma had discovered the letter from Gakushuu in her bag. She doesn't remember much from that night, seeing how she had been immersed in her book. "Um...Karma, did you really write a reply to Shuu-cha-"

 _BEEP BEEP BEEEEEP!_

Nagisa flinches and covers her ears as three loud whistles echoes around the pool.

"Kimura-kun! No running by the poolside! You could trip and hurt yourself!" Korosensei yells furiously. Nagisa hadn't noticed, but their teacher sat on the lifeguard's chair in a large striped body suit, holding onto a megaphone and a brown kickboard.

"Ah...s-sorry," Kimura says slowly, slowing to a walk.

 _BEEP!_

"Hara-san! Cease your dunking of Fuwa-san and Nakamura-san! I'm worried that you might drown them!" Korosensei shrieks, blowing on his whistle again.

"K-Kaaayy," Hara pulls both girls back up, looking surprised.

Before Hara can do anything, both Fuwa and Nakamura tackle her, dunking her as well.

 _BEEP_

"FUWA-SAN! NAKAMURA-SAN!"

"Sorry, sensei! We're just having our revenge!" Nakamura laughs, waving Korosensei's concerns off.

"And Okajima, that camera is confiscated!" Korosensei snatches Okajima's camera, which had been making an obvious sound of the shutter closing each time he had taken a picture, which was one every second. "Hazama-san! Don't just sit there and read! Swim a little!" Hazama flicks her eyes up, then looks back down at her book, seeming to also be listening to Ritsu's cheerful chatter. "Sugaya-kun! If this were a normal pool, you wouldn't be allowed in with that body art!"

 _Beep BEEP beep beep BEEEEEEEEP beep beep beeeep beeeeeeep_

 _He's so...fussy_...Nagisa groans, and sees her thoughts mirrored on her classmates faces.

"I guess when you make a pool, you start feeling like the high ruler of it all," Fuwa sighs, shaking her head.

"Yeah, it sort of puts a damper on all our gratitude," Kimura mumbles.

"At this point I think that Korosensei's just making a melody with the whistle," Nagisa shrugs, listening to the inconsistent shrill whistles. They...sort of make a melody, if she had been tone deaf with her ears underwater. "Come to think of it, you didn't bring _your_ whistle, did you Karma?" **[A/N for those of you who forgot, Nagisa gave Karma a whistle in one of the chapters]**

"Ah, I should have," Karma hums, seeming amused. "Imagine just _how_ much I could do with it..."

"Nurufufufufufufu, my elaborate plan makes the most of the natural surroundings, from the scenery to the layout, and so it must be enjoyed in an orderly fashion!" Korosensei snickers. Nagisa doesn't understand about half of what he says.

 _Korosensei's Weak Point #22: Super strict about pool rules_

"Aww, don't be such a stick in the mud, Korosensei!" Kurahashi says in her usual cherry manner, bending down to gather water in her cupped hands. "Have a splash!" She splashes the water at Korosensei, but he replies with a blood-curdling girlish shriek.

"KYAAA!"

"...what was that scream?" Fuwa asks.

In one swift movement, Karma swims from Nagisa's side to where Korosensei is, grabbing one of the supporting poles of the lifeguard chair and shaking it, trying to pull both the chair and it's occupant into the pool.

"K-KARMA-KUN! STOP!" Korosensei begs, frantically trying to maintain his balance. "I'LL FALL IN!" Karma ignore Korosensei, using even more force.

"Don't tell me you're _scared,_ sensei~!" Karma crows, smirking.

"I'm going to fall! DO YOU HEAR ME?! I'LL FALL IN! PLEASE!" Korosensei screams frantically, before finally realising he could simply hop off the chair with his mach speed.

As Korosensei sits on the ground and pants, the class all stare at him.

"Korosensei..." Isogai starts, speaking slowly and clearly.

"Don't tell me..." Mimura continues, staring at Korosensei.

"Oh, I just don't feel like swimming, that's all," Korosensei lies blatantly, sweating a whole lot as he tries to whistle innocently. "It's not like my tentacles get all swollen so I can't move or anything..."

"Sensei..." Nagisa says slowly, piecing everything together. "Sensei can't swim...!" _This may be one of his most useful weaknesses yet!_

 _Korosensei's Weak Point #23:_

"But...But you've got a kickboard with you," Mimura finally says, pointing at the dark brown kickboard in Korosensei's tentacles. "You must really want to swim."

"This isn't a kickboard," Korosensei says, sounding surprised. "It's a wafer!"

"What is that, your afternoon snack?!" Maehara shouts.

 _He can't swim_

 _Aquassnation,_ Nagisa mulls it over. _It seems that this will become this summers theme of study._

Just then, Kaede starts to scream.

"It's...IT'S TIPPING!" Kaede shouts and Nagisa quickly sees what's going wrong. The ball that someone had thrown had bounced off Kaede's inner tube, causing it to tip, and spill it's occupant out.

"Help!" Kaede screams as she flails in the water.

"Jeez...you moron, what you doing, Kayano!" Maehara yells, starting to move towards the flailing girl.

"You pick up girls with that attitude, Bastard Playboy~?" Karma calls.

"Don't tell me that you're so short that you can't stand!" Okajima yelps.

"K-Kayano-san! Grab onto this wafer and..." Korosensei says frantically, only to be cut off by a loud splash.

Nagisa sees Kaede stop flailing, and notices that Kataoka has got her, resting Kaede's green head on her shoulder. "There, you're alright now, Kayano-san. Let's go over where it's shallow now, okay?" She coaxes gently.

"I'm saved..." Kaede gasps, beaming. "Thanks, Kataoka-san!"

"...Fufu," Seeming to remember, something Kataoka stands, setting Kaede on the shallower area of the pool. "If we're making use of the water, this may be my turn to shine."

"I guess we'll be having a class wide meeting after school, then," Isogai says with a tired smile.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

"First off, the question is whether or not Korosensei can swim," Isogai starts when everyone is in the forest, in one of the clearings, after school. He's strangely antsy, for some reason, and keeps squirming around and looking at his watch.

"We've already seen that he becomes bloated when there's a lot of humidity," Okano recalls.

"And earlier, the only places that swelled up were the ones that Kurahashi hit with water," Isogai voices a little uncertainly, but everyone else nods.

"So if his whole body was temporarily swelled up with water..." Maehara says slowly.

"It seems that the water will not be enough to kill him," Ritsu speaks up, her face serious. "But there's a very high chance that he'll have a hard time moving around."

"So here's what I've been thinking, guys," Kataoka smiles, lifting a hand as she starts to outline her plan. "At one point during this summer, we'll force Korosensei underwater. Since that _alone_ won't be enough to kill him, we'll likely also slow his defensive reactions with knives and guns. Then, when he's bloated and can't move well, students who've been lying in wait underwater will strike. I will be one of those students, so you can leave that part to me," Unclipping the barrette that had been holding her hair back, Kataoka holds back her hair with one hand, the other proudly showing off the small anti-sensei blade embedded into er barrette. "With the anti-sensei knife built into my barrette, I'll be ready to go at anytime."

"Ooh~" Maehara grins, looking amused. "So basically, it's Kataoka Megu, Ikemen no two of Class E, representative of the swimming team for the front crawl last year, to have a turn."

"You sound like Okajima," Yada mumbles, which causes Maehara to leap to his feet, staring in shock at her.

"In what way?!"

"All the research," Yada pouts.

"Ahem," Clearing her throat, Kataoka successfully manages to gather Yada and Maehara's attention once again. "The most important part now, is getting Korosensei near the water without arousing suspicion. We've got the entire summer, so let's keep our eyes open for a chance!"

A resounding cheer echoes around the class, before everyone splits off.

Isogai, surprisingly, immediately dashes away, murmuring something that sounds like 'I'm late, I'm late...' under his breath, with Maehara following after him, shouting. 'Yuma! Your bag!"

"Just as you'd expect from Ikemegu," Mimura says, laughing.

"It's really amazing how we can rely on her at a time like this," Sugaya agrees.

As Nagisa walks with Sugino, Yukiko (who are both chatting in a friendly manner), Kaede (Who is simply eating a pudding and savouring it) and Karma, who she's holding hands with, she can't help but look back at Kataoka.

True enough, despite being a girl, Kataoka really is an Ikemen. Since she's good at both athletics and academics, and very helpful, while also looking smart and dashing, she had gained the nickname Ikemegu, something that apparently had been around since the first year, according to Kurahashi.

"You know," Kaede says suddenly, looking up from her pudding. "When Kataoka jumped into the pool and saved me earlier, she was so cool!"

"Yes, I suppose," Nagisa agrees, half-smiling.

"She was so cool, I think I may have fallen for her!" Kaede exclaims, flushing slightly.

... _I wonder why someone as capable as she was dropped into class E_...Nagisa can't help thinking.

"Well, look at that," Karma says in a low voice, squeezing Nagisa's hand, so as to not attract Kaede, Yukiko or Sugino's attention. "Three idiots look pretty sour~"

"Hmm?" Nagisa scans the clearing they had been gathered in. At the end of it, she sees Terasaka, Yoshida and Muramatsu standing a little ways off where they had first gathered, all with scowls on their faces. "I wonder what's wrong..."

"Probably nothing..." Karma hums, seeming amused.

"That means that you know what's going on, right?" Nagisa asks hesitantly.

" _But offu coursee_ (But of course)," Karma smirks, speaking in English.

"Will you tell me?"

"No, you have to figure it out on your own," Karma answers, much like how Nagisa expected. "I can't spoil you, or your brain won't work~"

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

"Look, Kataoka's swimming," Kaede suddenly points out.

Somehow, Nagisa had wound out walking home with Kaede, Yada and Hayami, since Sugino had pinned Karma back, for a 'man-to-man talk'.

Sure enough, as the four girls walk past the pool, they see Kataoka slamming her palms against the rock of the pool. "Ritsu," Kataoka croaks out, lifting her swimming goggles. "What's my time?"

"Twenty-six point zero-eight seconds," Ritsu receipts a little seriously. "That's still seven milliseconds slower than your personal best for fifty metres."

"Still a gap, huh," Kataoka replaces her swimming goggles over her eyes. "I told them to leave it to me, so I have to make sure to carry this out flawlessly."

"...Wow, how cool..." Kaede says in awe.

"As expected of Megu-Megu," Yada beams, watching Kataoka admiringly.

"She sure has a sense of responsibility," Nagisa comments, watching Kataoka cut through the water like a fish.

Hayami gives a small cough, clearing her throat, then calls loudly. "Swim, swim, swim, swim, swim, Megu-san!"

 **[A/N {Though it's more like a paragraph} There's a certain _rhythm_ in the cheer when it's said in japanese and it just sounds beautiful, {WHICH I KNOW BECAUSE I'VE BEEN WATCHING TOO mUCH FREE!} so even if it sounds awkward that's because I couldn't figure out how the cheer sounded in romanji, and it's written, so you can't hear it, BUT IT SOUNDS VERY NICE and wow I'm weird, sorry for this pointless author's note/paragraph I mean jeez.]**

"Wow, for even the stoic Hayami-san to cheer her on, Kataoka-san really is cool," Korosensei suddenly swings into their conversation. "I wonder why she's swimming so hard."

 _Oh no,_ Nagisa trades worried glances with the other girls. _We can't let Korosensei find out that we're aiming to kill him in the water! I have to change the subject...!_

As she frantically searches her mind, she recalls what Karma had found in Korosensei's desk.

"Hey, Korosensei," Nagisa says, pretending to look exasperated...though she doesn't really need to pretend much. "You sent a fan letter to Tade Haruka, that actress with the huge chest, didn't you?"

"NYUYA! HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT?" Korosensei splutters, looking supremely embarrassed.

"Karma showed me," Nagisa grimaces, recalling the contents of the letter. "You really spent a lot of time thinking and rewriting..."

"Yeeek! DON'T TELL ME YOU READ IT?!"

"Wait, Korosensei...you really wrote a letter...?!" Yada exclaims, looking repulsed.

"Writing things like 'when I look at you, it really perks up my tentacles'..." Nagisa says lowly, staring at Korosensei. "Normally, if she saw that, it'd be sexual harassment, y'know? I wonder what would happen if someone knew a teacher sent it~"

"NYUYA!" Korosensei hides his face in his hands.

"Nagisa, you can stop already. He's utterly mortified..." Kaede says, looking a little done with everything.

"Ding! Kataoka-san, you have an email from someone named Tagawa Kokona," Ritsu announces, sounding shy. On the screen of the phone, Ritsu holds an envelope. _Envelope...I hadn't actually asked Karma about the letter from Shuu-chan yet..._ Nagisa, Yada, Kaede, Hayami and Korosensei turn to the pool, where Kataoka halts in her swimming.

"...Ah," Kataoka's face falls. "She's a friend..."

Suddenly, Hayami marches towards the rocks where Kataoka's phone leans against the rocks. "Delete the email. Please, Ritsu."

"Don't delete it," Kataoka says sharply. "Rinka, leave this to me."

"Delete it. Delete her," Hayami says sternly.

"I do not comprehend," Ritsu frowns, seeming confused. "If she's a friend of Kataoka-san's, why do you want me to delete her email and contact information, Hayami-san?"

"Because she is not a friend," Hayami responds, her voice level and calm. If Nagisa had not moved towards her and touched her shoulder, she would not have felt Hayami's shaking. "She is a leech."

"Hayami-san," Nagisa says softly.

"Rinka," Kataoka narrows her eyes, frowning at Hayami. "Stop. Leave it."

"Cheh," Hayami actually spits. Nagisa moves a little bit away from her, hoping she'll calm down.

"Ritsu, sorry, but could you read it aloud to me?" Kataoka asks, the sad expression still on her face.

"Sure..." Ritsu opens the envelope, unfolding the paper inside. " 'Megumegu, what's up? [Left parentheses, up arrow, up arrow, right parentheses, v]' Which should look like this: (^^)v." The emoji flashes across the phone screen. " 'Aaaactually, I'd like you to help me with some school stuff agaaaaainnn ~ [heart emoji]! Let's meet up at the family restaurant in front of Torima Station~ [Left parentheses, right arrow, full stop, number six, right parentheses]'-"

"PFFT!" Yada and Nagisa both burst into laughter at Ritsu's way of describing emojis.

"It looks like this: ( .6)," Again, an emoji flashes across the screen. "And then, 'Yay~! [Star emoji, star emoji, star emoji]'. ...That's everything. It would seem that she has somewhat low IQ."

"Hey, now," Kaede giggles, seeming amused at Ritsu's comment,

"Well, she's in the main campus, so she can't be dumb," Yada smiles bitterly.

"Don't go," Is Hayami's instant response, speaking over Kaede and Yada.

"I can't not go, Rinka...you _know_ that," Kataoka sighs, looking tired. Emerging from the water, Kataoka scoops up her belongings and Ritsu, beginning to walk away. "...Alright, Ritsu, please reply back with: 'I'll be right over o(^_^o)'"

"Stop playing nice with her," Hayami demands suddenly, grabbing onto Kataoka's wrist. Since she's not facing them, Nagisa can't see her expression, but it must be something pretty fierce, or different from her normal one, since Kataoka hesitates slightly, then ruffles Hayami's hair with an almost mournful expression.

"Later, you three," She waves at Yada, Nagisa and Kaede. "Something's come up, so I'm going out for a bit."

"...I wonder what that was so suddenly," Nagisa watches Kataoka walk away.

"Yeah...that's a pretty gloomy expression for someone about to meet her friend," Kaede notes.

"Rinka-chan? Do you know what's going on?" Yada asks, tapping the girl on her shoulder.

Hayami's shoulders are shaking, trembling so much that even they can see it. Nagisa's almost too scared to see her expression.

"Rinka?" A soft voice calls from the path that leads to the forest.

The girls turn and see Karma, Sugino and Chiba on their way back. Seems as though one of them wanted to stop by the pool first.

"Karma, Sugino, hello," Nagisa offers a half-hearted smile.

Wordlessly, Hayami walks towards Chiba and grabs his sleeve, resting her forehead against his chest. Chiba hesitates a moment, then wraps an arm around her waist loosely, patting her on the head with the other one. _Hayami-san_...Nagisa wonders just _what_ kind of person this Tagawa Kokona for Hayami to show weakness like this.

"CAMERA, CAMERA!" Kaede shrieks, cutting through the air of a tender moment, frantically digging through her pockets for her phone. "PICTURE...KOROSENSEI, QUICK GET A PHOTO OF THAT! YOU STILL HAVE OKAJIMA'S CAMERA, RIGHT?"

"Y-Yes, Kayano-san!" Korosensei disappears, then reappears a second later with Okajima's SLR camera, held up to his face as he snaps shots of Chiba and Hayami.

"Wow, Chiba~" Karma chortles, then smirks at Sugino. "This is why I said you should ask _him_ for advice instead of me. Or ask the Womanising Bastard, Baseball."

"It's Sugino," Sugino sighs. "Or Tomohito, whichever."

"Rinka," Chiba coaxes quietly. Finally, Hayami steps away from Chiba, taking a handkerchief from her bag and mopping her face with it.

"I'm fine," Hayami says, and now her voice is back to it's usual emotionless state.

"Korosensei, I'm still worried about Megu-Megu," Yada speaks up hesitantly. "Can we follow her?"

"With a group this big...?" Chiba asks, tilting his head, his brow furrowed in confusion.

"Why not?" Karma gives his widest smirk. "Gettin' caught's just part of the fun~"

"Do you even know what's going on?" Yada frowns, half-glaring at Karma.

"Nope," Karma laughs.

"I'll explain on the way," Nagisa smiles, taking Karma's hand.

"We'll definitely go take a peek at this situation, since Kataoka-san is such a level-headed person, I'm _especially_ worried," Korosensei says thoughtfully. "Those who everyone relies on, tend to keep their hardships to themselves. Since Hayami-san isn't saying anything, I will assume that this is a rather delicate case..."

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"I keep telling you, the way you're doing the grammar is wrong," Kataoka says in a measured voice, sounding like a schoolteacher. "The way to do it is like this..." There's a silence as she scribbles on the paper with a pencil.

"So thats how you do it~!" The other girl says in a sickly sweet voice. "I get it now~"

"Are we seriously doing this...?" Sugino whispers, looking completely out of it.

The seven of them, Nagisa, Kaede, Yada, Hayami, Chiba, Sugino and Karma, crouch next to Korosensei, peering over a divider at Kataoka and a girl with twintails and big eyes framed with long lashes (with a really large mouth, Nagisa can't help but notice) - presumably Tagawa Kokona. They had rushed to catch up with Kataoka and barely managed to get into the family restaurant she entered without her noticing.

"Yes, we are. You better believe it," Kaede responds, shaking her head and sighing. "Honestly."

"I recognise her," Sugino says after a moment.

"She's even more disgusting than I remember," Hayami mutters.

"Rinka!" Yada exclaims, sounding like she's about to giggle.

"We must be silent as we observe them!" Korosensei chides, sounding amused.

"Finals are coming up, y'know?" Kokona continues, beaming a saccharine sweet smile. "MeguMegu's in the E Class, but you're good in all my bad subjects!"

"...I suppose," Kataoka says softly.

"Hey, Megu-Megu's what _I_ call her!" Yada whisper-shouts, seething.

"She seems sweet...?" Nagisa says hesitantly.

Hayami actually pinches her cheek when she says that. Just pinches the skin and pulls.

"Ow, Hayami-san!" Nagisa whispers.

"She's devil spawn," Hayami releases Nagisa and refaces Kokona and Kataoka.

"...Say, Kokona," Kataoka starts, sounding serious. "Right now, there's something I want to do. We're not in the same class anymore, so you calling me out all the time is...well..."

"...What do you mean?" Kokona pouts. "I'm relying on you, and yet, you're telling me not to call you anymore?"

" _Don't call anymore_ ," Hayami murmurs under her breath. "Don't call and stay away, you Lazy Thing."

"...No, no," Kataoka denies, looking mildly panicked. "That's not what I'm saying, but-"

"...How cruel," Kokona spits, slamming her hands on the table, causing her drink to spill all over the workbooks and notes, leaning across the table until she right in front of Kataoka. "And you were the one who nearly killed me, too."

"H-Huh?" Yada's eyes go wide, and so does Nagisa's. Only Hayami and Chiba don't have any reaction. Karma seems interested, and Kaede's jaw drops while Sugino nearly falls over, saved only by Korosensei.

"I almost died because of you, and now...now, I'm so scared that I can't even get into the water!" Kokano snarls, then grabs Kataoka's hand, holding it to her face. In a manner of seconds, she's summoned up crocodile tears, slipping all over Kataoka's hand. "You'll support me, won't you? Forever?"

 _Wh...What's with that girl...?!_

"I want to punch her," Kaede murmurs, looking ticked off. "She's really...!"

"For a midget, you sure are a spitfire," Karma comments.

"Ah! Look at what time it is!" Kokona checks her phone, her crocodile tears gone in a second. "I promised to _play_ with my friend, and I'm gonna be late," Picking up her bag, Kokona leaves. "Laaaater, MeguMegu~! From here on, you'll always be my exclusive Ikemegu."

"I don't like her very much," Yada whispers after a moment.

In front of them, Kataoka sits back and sighs, looking at her wet hand.

"...So," She starts, specifically _not_ looking at them. "What business does that suspicious group have there with me?"

Nagisa gulps.

Hayami stands, and walks over to Kataoka, offering her a packet of wet wipes. "Let's walk home together," She says firmly.

"...Sure," Kataoka opens the packet and takes out a wipe, mopping her hand with it.

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"Last summer, that girl, who was in the same class as I was, asked me to teach her how to swim," Kataoka narrates softly, sounding sad. "Apparently, the boy she liked and his friends were going to the beach, and she didn't want to look bad in front of him.

After one session of training, she had improved enough to more or less swim the length of the pool. Still, swimming in the ocean is more dangerous than swimming in a pool. So, I planned to teach her a bunch of times after that as well.

...However, for some reason or another, she wouldn't come to practise anymore after the first one, and ended up going to the beach just as she was."

"...Why?" Kaede asks softly.

"Because she's a lazy slob," Hayami replies.

"Well, she probably thought it was enough if she can swim a bit. From the start, she's the type who hates practising things repeatedly," Kataoka shrugs. "...And sure enough, she was swept away by the ocean current, almost drowned, but luckily was dragged back to shore by a rescuer.

It's been like this ever since. She'd say, 'I have trauma from being utterly humiliated and nearly dying,' and 'give me compensation for that useless swimming lessons'."

"So each time it's time for tests, you help her study?" Karma arches a brow, then sighs. "How weak-willed."

"Yes, that's how it goes," Kataoka gives a tight-lipped smile at the insult. "As a result, I ended up becoming worse in my weak subjects, and so I landed in class E."

"No way..." Kaede murmurs. "Isn't she taking advantage of you just a bit _too_ much?"

"Now do you understand why I wanted Ritsu to delete Kokona's contact information?" Hayami asks, barely any trace of emotion in her voice.

"Well, you've really despised her for a long time, Rinka," Kataoka comments lightly. "She used to bully you, even last year, huh? You know, Hinata and I used to think you were jealous of her, before we found out, of course."

"Jealous? Of that?" Hayami blinks in surprise, her voice still void of _any_ emotion. "No, I wasn't."

"She used to bully you?" Chiba asks.

"No."

"Yes."

Hayami and Kataoka chorus.

"Kokona always acted pretty sweet in front of all the boys," Sugino recalls, tapping his chin. "I can remember that she was really touchy-feely with everyone. Even me."

"I don't like her," Yada crosses her arms. "I don't like her at _all_."

"It's alright, Yada," Kataoka smiles, patting Yada's hair. "I'm used to this sort of thing..."

 _BEEP_

Korosensei blows on his whistle, shrill and loud.

Nagisa jumps, covering her ears. She sees that everyone else, save for Karma, has started in some way or another.

"That's no good at all, Kataoka-san," Korosensei chides gently, pulling out several A3 sheets of paper and drawing on them at Mach speed. "If you grow accustomed to others clinging to you, someday, you may be dragged down with them," Holding up his finished work, Korosensei beams. "For example, like this:" On the cover page, the title of the story boasts the words ' _The Melancholy Housewife'_ in thick lettering, with Kataoka drawn on her back facing the people reading it.

Nagisa and Karma peek over Kataoka's shoulder as she reads the story.

 _The first page has a drawing of The housewife, drawn as Kataoka, angrily shouting at the 'husband', drawn like Korosensei (But with a beard, a cap and a cross expression on his face)._

 _"Wait, what are you planning on doing with today's rent?" The housewife in the story shouts._

 _The husband holds a piggy bank as he speaks. "Shut up! I'm going to the slots! The slots!"_

 _The next page shows a scene of the husband hitting the housewife, yelling. "Don't get in my way! Move!"_

 _"Kyaa!"_

 _The third page shows a house, washed in darkness, with the housewife kneeling in the doorway, looking at the ground. Behind her, a shaft of life comes from the doorway, where the husband stands, looking mournful. "...Sorry," The words in the bubble connecting to the husband are apologetic. "The rent ended up becoming a bar of chocolate..."_

 _The page after that shows the husband, wrapping his arms around the housewife from behind, weeping. "Don't abandon meeeee...you know I'm the sort of guy who can't do a thing without you!"_

 _The final page is a full spread of the housewife patting the husbands shoulder, smiling gently, clearly forgiving all his sins. "Geez, you," The bubble next to her reads. "You really are hopeless... 3"_

Nagisa shudders, as does Kataoka.

"This is what you call codependency. You end up becoming dependant on other's dependance on you," Korosensei explains. "Kataoka-san," He faces Kataoka, taking back _The Melancholy Housewife_. "The way you look after Kokona-san and your sense of responsibility are truly incredible. Even so, at times, you need to nurture the other person's spirit of self-reliance.'No matter how much I cling to this person, we won't sink'. Someone who thinks like that will stop trying to swim under their own power. It doesn't do her any good, either."

"..." Kataoka seems to mull this over. "What should I do, sensei?"

"That much is obvious. She needs to be able to swim under her own power," In a flash, Korosensei has changed into his striped bodysuit. "Please don't endure such a burden alone and reply on your sensei, as well as your friends. This octopus will teach her mach swimming, which makes even fish blanche in fright."

 _He's going to teach her how to swim?! That means that he really_ can _swim after all?!_ Nagisa thinks frantically.

"On this note, though, Karma-kun, Nagisa-san," Korosensei lifts up _The Melancholy Housewife._ "You must make sure that your relationship doesn't become like this! Sensei understands that you two are dating now, but if you become like this Karma-kun, since you like taking risks so much-"

And Nagisa can't help it.

She bursts into laughter.

If anyone every believes that Karma can somehow spend _all_ his money on slots, all Nagisa can say is 'yeah, _like_ he ever can'. The Akabane's are _billion_ aires. _And_ , Karma hates the slot machines. He says they're too loud and bright (apparently, he can't handle things louder and brighter than he is).

"What's so funny, Nagisa-san?" Korosensei asks, fuming. "I am being completely serious-"

"SO, KOROSENSEI!" Sugino cuts in. "THIS PLAN OF YOURS."

"Yes, Sugino-kun?"

"We all have to take part in it?"

"Not if you don't want to," Korosensei smirks. "I will only accept willing help.

"Why not?" Sugino smiles.

"Sounds fun!" Kaede exclaims.

"I'd love to help you, Megu-Megu!" Yada throws her arms around Kataoka.

"Thank you, Yada," Kataoka pats her head.

"It doesn't sound too bad, right, Rinka?" Chiba turns to look at the green-eyed girl. The two of them have a silent conversation, just looking at each other, before Hayami shrugs.

"I don't mind."

"Karma-kun? Nagisa-san?" Korosensei asks.

Nagisa's still laughing, and laughing so hard, her stomach hurt. She's trying to stop - she is! - gasping for breath, but another giggle escapes her lips.

"Let her laugh," Karma says in amusement, rubbing her back. "We'll join in. Sounds...fun."

"Nurufufufufufufu! The fish squad has been formed!" Korosensei snickers.

"Wait, the what squad?" Sugino asks blankly.

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"...how did you get the bed out of the house?" Yada asks.

It's about a quarter past midnight, and they (Kataoka, Nagisa, Kaede, Yada, Hayami, Karma, Sugino and Chiba) are all gathered at the pool, in their various swimming costumes...all of which make them look like half-fishes. Korosensei had enlisted Sugaya to work on each of them, until they all have scales up and down their arms and legs, and he also managed to make their hands and feet look webbed, and designed other fish themed clothing for them, like webbed looking things as an extra touch. Sugaya truly is amazing, even having the eye to say that Hayami, Yada and Kataoka should let down their hair, since it would make them look more fish-like, while Nagisa and Kaede will be better off with their hair up. Korosensei, however, is in a full body fish suit, looking like a very mutated fish.

Korosensei smirks, setting Kokona's bed down at the top of a rock.

"Please don't ask," Nagisa groans, covering her face with her hands. It had been hers and Karma's job to get a way for Korosensei to get Kokona's bed (with her on it) out of her house, through (mostly) legal means. "So embarrassing..."

"What happened, Nagisa?" Kaede asks, patting the girl's shoulder. Strangely, Kaede wears an inner tube around her waist.

"We ran into her old friends," Karma laughs. "Hilarious."

"S-Shush, Karma," Nagisa groans. "I will never be able to talk to them properly again..."

"She's stirring!" Yada calls.

"Into the water!" Sugino yelps.

Everyone jumps in, spreading out automatically.

Kaede and Yada start splashing each other, giggling.

Hayami lies on her back, staring at the sky, kicking occasionally to propel herself around the pool, while Chiba lurks near her, ensuring she doesn't crash into the wall.

Sugino dives under the water's surface, surfacing once in a while for breath.

Kataoka is hiding behind the trees, waiting until Kokona wakes up to walk out.

Korosensei longues on a beach chair, a coconut in his hand.

Nagisa has no idea what to do, but Karma seems to have that covered. He pulls out a ball covered in what looks like scales, and throws it to Nagisa. She blocks it with her elbow, giggling as it fires into the air, then slams into the water, causing a wave to splash in Karma's face.

"...where am I?" Kokona asks, rubbing her eyes. "Last I can remember, someone kicked open my door..."

All eyes go to Nagisa and Karma. Nagisa flushes, sinking under the water.

"...Ah, I'm dreaming," Kokona glances around the beautiful pool area.

Lifting herself up, Nagisa gathers water in her hand, points at Kaede and squeezes, causing a spout of water to shoot at Kaede.

"Gya!" Kaede shrieks, then smirks. "I'm going to get you~" Swimming over, Kaede leaps on Nagisa.

Everyone starts messing around, acting the part.

Over all the splashing and laughter, Nagisa barely hears Kataoka step out from behind the trees, and say. "It seems you're awake..." rather uncoincidentally. _Come on, Kataoka-san..._ "Umm...this is the land of the fish!" She says with a little more conviction. "Come, let's all swim together!"

"...You look an awful lot like MeguMegu," Kokona observes.

"...You're mistaken," Kataoka says weakly. "I don't...know anyone with that name...I'm...Poisson, so..."

"That's like something you'd name a pub!" Kokano yells.

"My name's Koi!" Nagisa beams, feeling a little funny saying that word. Koi may be what the Chinese call their carps, but in Japanese, Koi means...well, love. Also, did they really need to introduce themselves...? With fake names, no less.

She sees Korosensei whisper something to Kataoka.

"I'm Carper," Sugino greets, grinning.

"Mine's Fishina!" Kaede waves.

"Fishina needs an inner tube even though she's a fish?!" Kokona gapes.

"And I, am the Fish King!" Korosensei calls. "Freely splashing about in rivers and oceaans, I am the underwater world's strongest octopus."

"YOU'RE NOT A FISH AT ALL!" Kokona yells.

"Nice to meet you, Koko!" Yada rises from the water, wrapping her arms around Kokona in what looks like a bone-crushing hug. "You're so pretty!"

"It's Kokona!" The girl herself protests.

"So...pretty..." Yada tightens her hold around Kokona, until she's gasping, then she releases her, patting Kokona on the shoulder with a friendly smile. "I'm Umi, I've heard you didn't like me..." Yada says sadly, brushing away tears that suddenly appear in her eyes. **[A/N play on words I couldn't resist :P Umi means sea, and Kokona is scared of the sea]**

"Umi, don't cry," Kataoka says.

"Poisson, you're so kind," Yada grins, then takes Kokona's hands. "Let's all swim together~"

"Yada's really good at this," Sugino whispers.

"S-Swim?" Kokona scoffs, looking a little panicked. "I'm in my pajamas."

"Oh!" Nagisa calls, pointing near Korosensei. "The Fish King may have something for you to swim in!"

"T-That's not i-important!" Kokona shouts frantically. "First, what are their names?!" She points at Karma, Hayami and Chiba.

Hayami swims towards Kokona's rock, pulling herself up, Chiba following her. She walks until she's practically nose-to-nose with Kokona, her eyes glaring.

"N-Nice fishy..." Kokona says haltingly, taking a step back.

"Sorry about that," Chiba apologises for Hayami. "S-She can't speak." They had decided that to ask Hayami to behave in a friendly manner to someone she despised may be a little too cruel, so they were going with the idea that she couldn't talk. "But she's glad to meet you, and would love to swim with you."

"Oh," Kokona blinks, not seeming to notice that Hayami, Chiba and Karma hadn't given their fish names. "Well, I don't want to swim. It's cold! I'm in pajamas. I'm not swimming!"

"What an excellent chain of retorts. THat makes quite a warm up," Korosensei compliments, tieing up Kokona's hair into twintails. "Now, for some careful stretching~" Korosensei puppets Kokona around, moving her arms and legs. "And a quick change..." Somehow, Korosensei manages to change Kokona from her pajamas to a school issued swimming costume. "And in you go!" He tosses her into the water.

"WA-WATER?!" Kokoma screams, flailing around.

"Calm down, Kokona!" Kataoka exclaims, grabbing Kokona's shoulders. "It's shallow over here! You want to be able to swim, right? We'll work on it, a little bit at a time."

"Not being able to swim at this point is fine with me!" Kokona sputs angrily. "I've already decided that I'd use that to become a lovable character! Someone who smiles, despite past trauma," Nagisa wrinkles her nose. Her already low opinion of Kokona just dropped a whole lot. "If I say I can't swim, that I have trauma, that friend of mine you resemble will listen to _anything_ I tell her!"

"..." To Kataoka's credit, she doesn't react badly, only sighing. "...Mmhmm, come along now, let's get walking," She starts pushing Kokona's back, guiding her further into the pool. "You've got to warm yourself up a bit."

"Wh..What the heck, treating me like this when you're a fish?!"

Hayami and Yada dive into the water, beginning to perform a quick underwater dance, their hair, one light, one dark, streaming in the water behind them.

"By the way, Koro...Fish King," Nagisa calls, seeing Korosensei twitch. "Aren't you going to get in too?"

"No," Korosensei begins sweating, lookign a little cornered. "Sensei just came to the pool today to get a tan..."

"It's the dead of night," Chiba points out.

"You can't teach her if you don't swim, you know," Karma reminds Korosensei. "Unless you forgot that basic little fact..."

 _Whether or not Korosensei can swim is essential to the assassinations from here on out. We have to find out which it is,_ Nagisa narrows her eyes, watching Korosensei.

"That is true," Korosensei dives into the water. "Well, then, I may as well."

"Huh?" Kaede splutters.

 _He didn't even hesitate?_ Nagisa's eyes widen.

"Now, we'll start with the basics of the streamline kick," Korosensei instructs, surfacing...as a fish.

He's in a full fish costume, and the only thing Nagisa can only see his smiling face from behind a screen. _He's going to demonstrate how to kick in_ that _?!_ Nagisa starts.

"This swimsuit was developed for such an occasion. It is completely watertight and can withstand swimming at Mach Speed," Korosensei says cheerfully. "Behold the secret to many swimming techniques! The flutter kick!" Korosensei begins to swim in a circle at Mach speed, causing a whirlpool to form. Nagisa sees Hayami and Yada start to get stuck in it, but the two girls manage to escape it's clutches. Kokona stands just out of the whirlpool's reach, her eyes wide and fearful. _That's not good, she has to be in the whirlpool for this to work,_ Nagisa thinks, and just as she does, Hayami shoves Kokona into the whirlpool.

"BYUAGH!" Kokona shouts. "It's pulling me in!"

To her credit, Hayami treads water by Kokona's side, looking ready to grab the girl, should anything go wrong.

"Don't panic, Kokona! The current's not as strong at the edges!" Kataoka instructs, swimming on Kokona's other side. "We're going to practice how to swim in the ocean. It's fundamentally the same as swimming in a pool! As you feel the pull against your palms, increase your pace!" Kokona's head sinks under the water and, looking as unruffled as ever, Hayami lifts her up by the back of her swimming costume. "In the ocean, it's easy to lose track of your location, so...from time to time, switch to breaststrokes to figure it out!" Kataoka yells. "ANd then go back to the front crawl!"

"That swimsuit is cheating, Fish King!" Sugino yelps as Korosensei swims past.

"Yeah! We wanted to see whether your actual body can get into the water or not!" Kaede shouts.

"Kaede!" Nagisa exclaims.

"I can though, even without that," Korosensei tosses his fish suit into Nagisa's arms.

"Eh?" Nagisa blinks. in front of their eyes, Korosensei is standing in the water.

"He's...actually in the water?" Kaede gasps.

"No way," Karma scoffs.

"HE'S SCOOPING OUT THE WATER AROUND HIM AT MACH SPEED?!" Kaede shrieks. Indeed, Korosensei is doing something like that, creating a wave pool.

"Duh," Karma then takes something that looks like a bowl - probably the glass that protected Korosensei's face - from the fish suit in Nagisa's hands. Divining into the water, Karma swims towards Korosensei, staying just out of his strange wave pool, and gathers up water from the pool and throws it at Korosensei, who shrieks.

"Karma-kun! This is an extremely delicate situation!" Korosensei yells frantically. "No assassination attempts!"

"He can't swim, Nagisa-chan!" Karma calls back.

" _Th_ _ank you_ , Karma!" Nagisa beams.

"Yada!" Sugino shouts to the pool. "Korosensei can't swim!"

Immediately, Yada gestures for them to join her, and Nagisa, Karma, Sugino and Yada swarm towards Korosensei, ready to attempt an assassination.

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(Back to Kokona)

"Wh-What the hell!" The waves from Korosensei are pulling Kokona in. As she frantically does the front crawl, Kokona begins to shout, mostly kept afloat due to Hayami's leg, that's lifted and resting just under her stomach. _Seems like Hayami-san doesn't want to use her hands and touch Kokona_ , Nagisa notes with an exasperated sigh. "The waves aren't reaching over here, but I'm still being pulled in!"

"Keep calm!" Kataoka shouts.

"Keeping calm seems to be the solution of most of the things in the world," Chiba comments. "Keep calm and swim, keep calm and-"

"EAT PUDDING!" Kaede shrieks, finishing off Chiba's sentence.

"Change your course and swim over this way!" Kataoka calls, gesturing.

"Huh? The water's calmer..." Kokona mumbles as she swims towards Kataoka, Hayami treading water and following her almost lazily.

"This is called a riptide," Kataoka explains. "This is a current that reflects back from the shore and heads out to the open sea. This may have been the reason why you nearly drowned before," Kataoka offers Kokona a smile. "Rather than feed futilely for shore, in a situation like this, you swim parallel to the shore to escape the current. Anyway, you absolutely mustn't panic."

"KEEP CALM AND SWIM!" Kaede shouts.

"Now, let's swim until morning!" Korosensei says cheerfully, dodging the attacks from Karma, Yada, Nagisa and Sugino. "And master the elegant swimming style of a fish.

 _This teacher...might teach athletes to humans, but he's not really suited for it..._

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Kokona slams her palms against the wall, emerging from the pool.

"That's a great time, Tagawa Kokona!" The swimming captain exclaims, clapping her on the back. "When did you find the time to practice? You've gotten so good!"

 _...What's with me?_ Kokona wonders. _Ever since that weird dream about those fish, working me to the bone, I've become able to swim so well that it's shocking!_

"Kokona, hang with us!" A few of the swim club girls invite.

"Sure!" Kokona beams.

 _Well, whatever! Being able to swim and getting all this attention feels wonderful!_

"You looked good out there, Kokona," A familiar voice says.

"Wha!" Kokona jumps when she sees Megu, standing near the pool with a proud smile.

"Looks like you've conquered your fear of water!" Megu winks, waving. "You'll be fine, even without my help anymore!"

"C-Crap!" Kokona realises that Megu won't help her anymore. _Shit. My marks might go down...but I can't pretend to be bad at swimming anymore..._

"H-HMPH! IT'S NOT LIKE I'M ALWAYS GOING TO RELY ON SOMEONE LIKE YOU!"

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"With this, you won't feel any sense of responsibility toward her, Kataoka-san," Korosensei smiles, standing in front of the pool. "From now on, please remember that there are times to take someone's hand and lead them along, and times you must be stern and let them fend for themselves."

"I will, Kataoka smiles. "That holds for you too, doesn't it, Sensei?"

 _In the end, it seems that Korosensei_ is _weak against water_ , Nagisa smiles to herself.

"As you've already confirmed," Korosensei dips his tentacles into the pool water. In an instant, the tentacle swells up, becoming red and giant. "I cannot swim. When immersed in water, I become almost incapable of moving. You could say that this is by far my greatest weakness. Be as it may, I'm not particularly wary." Green stripes cover Korosensei's face. "I'm confident that I won't fall into the water. And even if I do, so long as Kataoka-san is my only opponent, I can manage. Therefore," Korosensei turns to face Nagisa, Karma, Kaede and Kataoka. "Please trust in everyone's strength, and hone their swimming skills. I created this pool for that very purpose."

"Yet you can't swim, Kayano," Karma snickers.

 _Thus opened, the Class E exclusive summer pool._

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 _But the next day, that pool created an opportunity for an even greater incident._

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 **...A couple of hours late...if you live in the west? A day if you live in the east? Well, at least there's a really long extra down there XD**

 **This took longer than I thought to write O.O**

 **Review repliesssss~**

 _ **Xenocanaan:** Haha thannnkksss XD The attack scene took me a while to write, 'cause I was blankly staring at the screen like 'HOW DO I WRITE A SNAKE?!' I'm glad that it turned out alright lolol XD  
_

 ** _flamelily274:_** _Well, the lettering system also confused me. I was like 'WAIT KARMA SO SMART THO' but he was in the same class as Nagisa in cannon, and that means the E Class. This strange phenomenon will be explained (well, my version anyway) in the backstory. And I really thought that Terasaka should be in the D Class, but in Terasaka's Time, Terasaka was bullying the dorkly looking science memorisation dude, who's like, in the A Class, so yep._

 ** _kirika o7:_** _WHEN DID IT HAPPEN YOU ASK? AFTER CHAPTER 14 AND BEFORE THIS ONE MUAHAHAHAHA_

 ** _TamashinoSuzume:_** _Shuu-chan will appear when he's allowed *box that's holding all the currently unused characters rattles* *locks box* which is pretty soon, I think. When will the rest of the class ever learn...*opens mouth* *closes mouth* UH When her chapter rolls around?_

 ** _Tyrant Overlordess Luciela:_** _LOVE TRIANGLE, MUAHAHAHA (or will it be a love...square?)_

 ** _Tyrant Overlordess Luciela (Hi again!):_** _*pushes glasses up nose* ['You're our bitch' - Takebayashi] I think that on the Wikia, it's actually one of his listed quotes._

 ** _GingerHale:_** _:P Matricalness is nice lol (if you're female) Haha, everyone's calling Gakushuu, Shuu-chan now XD Don't worry! Probably the chapter after next? Maybe he'll appear and sweep Nagisa off her feet (TBH That's ain't gonna happen, spoiler)_

 ** _Zela Night:_** _Thanks :3_

 ** _OneWhoCharms:_** _Yep, I'm back, and I hopefully won't disappear! That extra beating Takaoka got was very satisfying *blows on fingers* I'm so glad. And the lemon juice concoction was actually something my cousin came up with, and he had been happily threatening everyone with it, (It really does burn) so I just incorporated it in karma and was like 'wait a minute...I want that in Takaoka's eyes' or something. ANYWAYYY, I ended up adding a whole bunch (like, two) more beat ups on Takaoka. (I am terrible)_

 _ **TheJubilations:** Haha, are you really smiling at your screen?! Oh now I'm awkwardly smiling at _my _screen yay! The scene where Karma bashes Maehara on the head was (once again) inspired by my same cousin who made the lemon concoction. After he sprayed it at me, my sister chopped his head, then took it from him and hid it in a super secret place (our wardrobe) Nagisa's pretty dense in the manga and anime when it comes to matters directly involving him/herself, but weirdly observant at everything else so I was like MUAHAHAHAHA, time to put this to use! And yeah! Mostly the weekend... *stares at clock* *weakly* mostly...the...weekend...(no, not really ;-;)_

 ** _Amaya Kuruta:_** _Aww you're sick? What happened? I hope you get better soon, or already better! I'm glad I updated in time to cheer you up! *Serious face* Karma and Nagisa are dating in this, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have been scared on his girlfriend. *Smiles* but I know what you mean lol XD Shuu-chan will do his best *nods head* but she's got an Akabane as her boyfriend XD Yep! I have been seen (sorta) *Hug* See you next update X3_

 ** _Yuzuhara-san:_** _...You are my soul sister/brother. I totally agree._

 ** _MARSHMALLOW (IDK WHY I CAPS'D THAT! I JUST WANTED TOO):_** _Aww *hugs* I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Sorry sorry X) I'm an introverted potato in real life :P Mweh. I'd love to act as an adult, but I'm (un)surprisingly bad at adapting. I can plan a speech in my head, then suddenly, my parent interrupts and then I suddenly don't know how to react :O So yeah...I'll try though._

 _Yay, the chapter! It's from your favourite episode, right? I'm glad you liked it XD 'Nagisa beating the **** out of Takaoka' Haha, censorship XD Good job *thumbs up* The Karma suspecting Takaoka scene took_ forever _to write *sweatdrop* My fingers are all soreeeee (not really, but let's pretend) I'm happy you likeed it! And woah, winter break *has never experienced winter in my home country before* WHOA YOU GET TO EXPERIENCE BOTH? That's so cool XD I'm only experiencing Christmas, and my shopping list is pretty loaded :P See you in the next chapter too :3_

 ** _J.C.:_** _(What does the J and the C stand for, can I ask? Jack Christo? John Carey?) Pleased to hear that you like this :)_

 ** _Iwhoreads:_** _(Ohh! I read too!) Yes, an update at long last! Sorry I can't continue the confession. That one's backstory exclusive, for whenever I upload it *nurufufufufufufufufu* Thanksss! I'll do my best in the epic showdown of Karma and Shuu-chan!_

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 _Extras #1:_

 _How Korosensei got Kokona's bed out of her house (Ft. Karma, Nagisa and Nagisa's elementary school friends)_

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 _Warning: Semi-OC's in here_

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"Karma, are you sure you know how to do this?" Nagisa whispers.

It's eleven-thirty at night, and the first phase of Korosensei's elaborate plan had just started.

Unfortunately, it involved Karma and Nagisa, though, technically, Nagisa is actually his minder. The two of them are at the gate of Kokona's apartment block, which looks surprisingly familiar, the address provided by Hayami, and Karma is striding up to the security guard box without a care.

"Yep," Karma smirks. "We've got to get in some way, right?"

"So you're just walking right up to the security guards?" Nagisa asks skeptically.

"But of course," Karma gestures for Nagisa to walk next to him. Grudgingly, she obeys, and he wraps an arm around her waist.

However, instead of walking to the security guard box, Karma guides her down the sidewalk, along where the fence is and Nagisa sees how he's keeping a careful eye on it. Softly, Karma starts muttering under his breath, stopping them as he eyes the cameras mounted on the fence surrounding the apartment complex.

"...Karma?" Nagisa asks softly.

Karma carries on muttering, then whispers. "Pretend you have to tie your shoe or something, we need some sort of excuse for us loitering."

"R-Right," Nagisa crouches, tugging on her shoelaces. As she looks up at the apartment complex, she can't help but think that the building _really_ looks familiar.  
"Hey, Karma?"

"Hmm?"

"Doesn't Naruko live here?" Nagisa asks quietly. Yanagi Naruko is one of Nagisa's three closest female friends in elementary school, along with Hisakawa Chihiro **[A/N The Chihiro mentioned in Karma's confession extra]** and Isaki Meiko **[Another A/N The same Meiko mentioned in Chapter 13's extra #4 and chapter 14's chapter #1]**. The four girls had been a group of their own.

"...She does?!" Karma asks, surprised. "Same block? Block F?!"

"Yes," Nagisa slowly nods, recalling the place. "Chihiro, Meiko, Naruko and I often hung out here...we also went here last summer, to mess around."

"...You're not kidding, right?" Karma laughs when Nagisa nods solemnly. "That's going to make everything much easier!"

"How?"

"We're supposed to infiltrate and get a path for Korosensei to steal the bed, right?" Karma reminds her, and Nagisa nods hesitantly. "So we have to get into the apartment complex first."

"I-I suppose," Nodding, Nagisa wonders what Karma's getting at.

"But the security guards won't open the door unless you're visiting someone, and that someone gives the OK," Karma explains. "I was thinking we'd have to climb over the fence and sneak into the apartment lobby by the fire exit, since to enter the lift lobby, you need to have a key card or press someone's house number and be buzzed up over the intercom. Knowing that Yanagi-san lives here makes everything easier."

"T-That's good," Nagisa offers Karma a confused smile.

"Come on, let's get started..." Karma pulls Nagisa to her feet, and drapes his arm around her shoulders, turning and walking back towards the gate of the apartment complex.

"'Scuse me?" Karma calls to the guard standing guard at the gate, who blinks at him in surprise. "We're visiting our friend. Could you open the gate for us?"

"If I had a dollar every time some delinquent said that..." The guard sighs. "Name and block number."

"Nagisa," Karma nudges her.

"Y-Yanagi," Nagisa says haltingly. "Block...block F..."

The guard checks his logs, then nods. "Block F is over there," He points at the building Karma had been eying.

" _T-Thank you_ ," Nagisa stammers out in English.

"You're too nervous," Karma hisses, tugging Nagisa towards the block.

"S-Sorry..." The two stop at the intercom in the lift lobby. Nagisa presses the buttons that she knows will call Naruko's house. At first, there's only buzzing, then someone's voice finally crackles over the line.

"'Lo? Who's that? If you're from my school, this is a terrible prank," Comes a girl's tired voice. Nagisa relaxes as she recognises it.

"N-N-Naruru-chan," Nagisa calls softly. She knows Naruko well enough to know that the girl is faking her fatigue. "It's Shiota Nagisa-"

"Nacchan?" Naruko interrupts, the fake tiredness in her voice disappearing completely. "Nacchan, are you alright? Why you calling so late at night? If it's Karma again, I swear I will molly whop him from here to-"

"I'm right here, Yanagi," Karma snorts. "Like you could 'molly whop' me anywhere."

"If you hurt Nacchan, I _will_ pull up every strand of red hair from your head," Naruko spits.

"Like you could, you caramel creampuff."

"Naruko, who's it?" Comes another voice over the intercom.

"Chihiro?" Nagisa gasps, surprised that the other girl would be staying over. "Chihiro!"

"It's Nacchan," Naruko answers. "And Karma."

"Ah, Karma-dono..." Chihiro says, her voice soft and lyrical as always. "Nacchan, come on up. We're on the sixth floor..."

She buzzes them up.

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Nagisa is careful as she walks up to Naruko's door.

"Do we have to visit them?" Karma sighs. "I could be breaking into Kokona's house, you know."

"Naruru might know something," Nagisa shrugs.

"Unlikely-" Naruko's door is thrown open, swinging inwards.

"Nacchan!" Yanagi Naruko, a pretty girl with caramel coloured hair that goes down to mid-back and wide, chocolate brown eyes that stick out in her heart-shaped face, dashes out of the house in nothing but a nightgown, stopping just in front of Nagisa, gripping her shoulders. "What's wrong, why you hear so late at night?"

"Give her space to breath, Naruko," Hisakawa Chihiro chides, filling up the doorway behind Naruko. Like Naruko, she's in her sleepwear, a big baggy shirt and yoga pants. Chihiro is a bit of a serious looking girl with her ink coloured hair braided and looped into a large bun, her almond shaped platinum coloured eyes dancing with amusement. "Hello, Akabane-dono."

"NACCHAN!" A third voice shrieks, and all Nagisa sees is a streak of white before Naruko's knocked to the side and she's tackled to the ground in a hug. "Nacchan, Nacchan, Nacchan!" The person who knocked her over sings, pressing their face into her shirt.

"Mei-Meiko?" Nagisa asks in surprise. Isaki Meiko lifts her head and beams at Nagisa. She's as beautiful as ever, with a perfectly shaped face, wide, round blue eyes the colour of the sea, a shade of three darker than Nagisa's. Due to her being of Russian descent, her hair is such a light blonde, it's practically white, and Nagisa blinks in surprise at the swirling braids in Meiko's hair.

"Nacchan, Nacchan~!" Meiko tightens her hold around Nagisa. "It's been _forever_! You should visit once in a while, you know, instead of always refusing our invitations to hang out. We were going to ambush you for your birthday, but-"

"Up you go," Karma grabs Meiko and lifts her off Nagisa, then sticks out his hand to the blue-haired girl. "Nagisa?"

"Thank you, Karma...whoa!" Nagisa gasps as Karma grabs her hand, lifts her up and wraps his arms around her from behind.

"It's so weird that you're dating now," Naruko grumbles, crossing her arms. "I always thought that Karma liked Meiko, and I was so busy protecting her I didn't manage to protect _you,_ Nacchan."

"What do you mean?" Karma snorts. "I've never liked Meiko. It's always just been Nagisa."

Nagisa's cheeks turn the colour of tomatoes.

"A-ANYWAY!" She squeaks out, then clears her throat and tries again. "Anyway, we kinda needed to get to the sixth floor to break into someone's house."

Meiko and Chihiro give Nagisa ' _OMG'_ expressions.

"Really?" Naruko blinks, then nods. "Which house? I'll help."

"You will?" Nagisa gasps in delight, then beams. "That's great!"

"Which house? I'm really hoping it's number thirteen. The girl living there's an asshat to me just cause she goes to a junior high prep school and I go to some no name school," Naruko shrugs.

"Which school?" Karma asks, looking amused. Knowing him, he'd probably already made some connection.

"Kunugigaoka Junior...hey, it's your school, Nacchan, Akabane!" Naruko suddenly realises. "Do you know her? She's Tagawa Kokona."

"Actually..." Nagisa says slowly. "That's the person whose house we want to break into."

...

"Serious? That's awesome! I want to like, kick down their door," Naruko grins, then shoos Meiko back into the house. "Chi, Mei, cover for me."

"Sure," Chihiro smiles, then waves the trio off. "Have fun, Naruko, Nacchan."

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Nagisa only doubts her choice when Naruko kicks open the door to Kokona's room.

Before that, everything had been going smoothly. Karma, once discovering that the door is, apparently 'not bolted. Seems that that lazy girl only used the slam-lock' (somehow he can tell that based on how the doorknob jiggles), takes a card and slips it through the side of the door, then slides it up. With that, they're into the house.

They had a short speculation about why the door only had the slam-lock on (the most likely hypothesis being that Kokona's mother, who works double shifts and only returns home at seven, in time to make breakfast and lunch for Kokona before sleeping through the morning, leaves it with only the slam-lock on and Kokona is too lazy to properly lock the door, as it involves a key), after which they snuck in.

But then, all stealth went to hell when Karma confirms, after listening with his ear against Kokona's door, that she's awake.

"She's awake?" Nagisa frowns, disappointed. Their plans may have to be pushed back as they wait for Kokona to fall asleep. "We'll have to wait for her to go to bed then."

"Why not just knock her out?" Naruko asks, then Nagisa recalls how Naruko is a rather violent girl, and how she had been part of a strange crowd at school. Strange since the group aren't criminals or anything, but enjoyed fighting against each other randomly (But according to Naruko, Karma is still stronger).

" _Can_ you do that?" Nagisa tilts her head. "We need her to wake up in maybe ten minutes after she goes to sleep."

"Sure I can," Naruko shrugs, then winds up her arm.

Then she takes a few steps behind, takes a deep breath, then Naruko dashes toward the door and gives it a spinning kick.

The door flies off it's hinges, and Nagisa's jaw drops.

"KYAAA!" Kokona screams as Naruko storms into her room.

She's probably quite a sight.

Naruko, in all her beauty, standing by the ruined wreckage of Kokona's door, in nothing by a white nightgown with ruffles down it's front, and a ribbon wrapped around it's frilly collar. She probably looks like some kind of fallen angel.

"W-Who are you?! I'll call the police-" Kokona starts, then Naruko takes takes two strides to Kokona and Nagisa doesn't see what Naruko does to Kokona, since the caramel-haired girl's back covers her, but when Naruko steps away, Kokona's passed out on the bed.

"Will this do, Nacchan?"

"It's perfect," Nagisa beams. "Thank you, Naruru!"

"No problem!" Naruko waves, starting out of the door. "See you, Nagisa, Akabane!"

"She's surprisingly civil after she's beaten the crap out of shit," Karma observes dryly.

"I think her bed will fit out the window," Nagisa focuses on the main matter.

"Better call Kataoka and tell her, then," Karma shrugs, taking Nagisa's phone and making the call.


	16. Chapter 15-5: CHRISTMAS SPECIALS

_**Part one:**_

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 _Christmas specials:_

 _The Five Christmases Nagisa has spent with Karma (and here's hoping for a sixth)_ _ **[Part One]**_

 **OR**

 _The Cafe Saga (I got carried away)_

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 _Primary/Grade Four:_

"It's my first christmas in Japan," Nagisa confesses to Karma as they walk home, a day before the winter break starts. Snow falls gently around them and Nagisa jumps as a flake lands on her nose.

"Ah, that explains it all," Karma nods his head wisely. "No wonder you were so excited and asking everyone stuff."

"Indeed," Nagisa sneezes. "It's a lot colder in Japan," She says ruefully, rubbing her red nose.

"Then wear your scarf properly~" Tugging one end, Karma manages to unwind the scarf. With a smirk, he bows, presenting with the blue and silver patterned fabric.

"I don't know how," Nagisa pouts, remembering how, in England, her friends would always help her.

"You don't know something so simple?" Karma snorts, then wraps the scarf around Nagisa's neck, expertly tying it. She doesn't know how he does it, to her, it just looks like the ends jumping around, going under and over. In face, Nagisa barely registers the fact that Karma's done until he lifts a portion of it to cover her probably-red nose.

" _T-Thank you_ ," She murmurs, slipping into english.

"You're very strange, Nadeshiko-chan," Karma raps his knuckles against Nagisa's head.

"Ugh..." She grumbles in response to _that nickname._ "How am I strange?"

"No reason," Karma adjusts the scarf around Nagisa until she can't feel any more cold air touching her neck and she's surprised at the look on his face when he's done.

"Well, could you give me your house number?" Nagisa asks, her eyes locked on Karma's face. He looks a little...starstruck? She isn't sure why. "I can call you on christmas."

"Why?" Karma blinks a few times, and the _maybe_ starstruck expression slips off his face, replaced with one of amusement. "How did we even get to this topic, and why don't you just visit?"

"Oh, my mother told me I am not allowed to go other people's houses, at least until we've settled down..." Nagisa parrots at Karma, recalling how sternly her mother had said those words. However, when she sees Karma's face, eyebrow raised, arms crossed, she can't help but blush, tacking on a "...Or something..." To the back of her words.

"Well, call me on Christmas and we'll arrange something," Karma says good-humouredly, drawing a pen from his bag and scrawling on Nagisa's palm. "There you go."

"Thank you..." Nagisa lifts her hand, smiling slightly.

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Nagisa can't believe what she's doing.

It's a little strange.

"I could have sworn I set my alarm at twelve..." Nagisa murmurs, sighing. It's twelve twenty-five a.m. in the morning (or night...?), of Christmas Day. Rolling out of bed, she sneaks to her door, opening it as quietly as she can.

The lights are all off in the hallway, and the living room. Creeping to her parent's bedroom, she presses her ear to the door.

Not a sound.

Thank goodness.

Slipping into the living room, Nagisa stops for a cup of water - so that she has an excuse for getting out of bed - and picks up the house phone, propping it against her ear. Opening her hand, she squints at her palm, trying to make out the writing in the dark. A few days ago, she had traced over Karma's house number with a bright silver pen. Slowly, she keys in the numbers, waiting for the line to connect.

 _Twelve twenty-eight,_ she thinks, catching sight of the digital clock hanging on the living room wall.

She listens to the beep over the line.

" _Hello_?" A click and she's connect. A friendly woman's voice echoes over the line, and Nagisa blinks in surprise. The woman speaks in English, so Nagisa does too.

"H- _Hello_..." She stammers out.

" _Ah, one second, honey,_ " The woman says cheerfully. " _Do you have the right number, darling?_ "

" _I-I am not sure...I'm looking for...Karma-kun..._ " She says quietly, running her fingers along the telephone line.

" _Karma?!"_ The woman sounds surprised. " _You mean, scrawny boy, a little tall, red hair that's always smooth, and the weirdest eyes in the world?"_

" _...His eyes are pretty...?"_ Nagisa offers.

" _So you_ do _mean Karma? Like my son, Karma?"_ The woman sounds so shocked, Nagisa is a little frightened to reply.

" _Y-Yes..._ " She murmurs, cradling the phone. " _I-Is he there?"_

 _"Yes...one second..."_ The line goes quiet and Nagisa swallows. _Oh geez..._

"Yo, Nadeshiko-chan?" A familar voice comes over the line, speaking Japanese now.

" _M-Merry Christmas, Karma-kun!_ " Nagisa half-shouts.

Karma seems to be startled into silence, before he laughs. " _Merry Chrisumasu, Nadeshiko-chan._ You're thirty minutes late."

"S-Sorry," Nagisa flushes, her eyes darting to the wall clock. _Twelve thirty-one_. "I didn't wake up to my alarm clock..."

"Hah, sleeping beauty, Nadeeshiko-chan," Karma sounds bemused. "Wanna go downtown with me later today?"

"Just you?" Nagisa twists the telephone cord. "Tokyo isn't _that_ safe."

"We'll be fine," Karma snorts, and Nagisa imagines him waving his hand dismissively. "If we stick to the crowed places, and stay together no one can hurt us. I promise."

"Crowded," Nagisa corrects.

"Crowded," Karma amends.

"Alright," Nagisa smiles. "I can give you your present, then."

"Ooooooo, you bought me something? Nice," Karma laughs. "Meet me at the station at twelve. We'll go have lunch."

"Alone?" Nagisa asks again.

"If you _have_ to, bring your parent."

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"Hiromi, I'm bring Nagisa downtown!" Nagisa's father calls, helping Nagisa put on her coat.

"Sure! Buy back groceries!" Comes her mother's reply. _Good, she's in a good mood._

Nagisa peers at the clock. Eleven twenty-one in the morning. She's still a little tired.

"I can wear my own coat, papa," She murmurs, adjusting the collar.

"But not your scarf?" Her father asks, arching a brow. The Father-Daughter duo stand in the entryway of their house, preparing to go out. "So you are going out with your friend?"

"Yes," Nagisa slides on her mittens, flexing her fingers.

"And is this the same friend who you exchange the drawings with?"

"Yes, Papa," Nagisa watches as her father winds her scarf around her neck. He isn't as efficient as Karma is, his fingers fumbling.

"The same friend who calls you 'Nadeshiko'?" Her father questions.

Nagisa pauses. "How did you know?"

"I have my ways," Her father smiles mysteriously, finally managing to complete the task of helping her with her scarf. "You like that boy, right? You both are good friends?"

"Yes."

"Do you trust him?"

"I absolutely trust him," Nagisa fits a wool hat over her head.

"He isn't some kind of manic?"

"..." She thinks of their school year. The food fights in the canteen, when Karma climbed up the rock climbing wall and jumped off, saved only by his harness, the fact that Karma can (and will) beat up middle school students (if provoked, of course) and how she has been told that he once dumped a stink bomb in the staff room and painted a wall of the principal's office neon orange just the year before. She touches her scarred cheek, then looks at her father. "I absolutely trust him," Nagisa reaffirms, pulling on her socks.

"Then while we're downtown, I'll stop by a coffee shop and stay there. When you're finished, come find me," Her father smiles kindly, fixing Nagisa's hat. "You have fun with your friend."

Beaming, Nagisa wraps her arms around her father. "I will!"

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"What shop is that?" Nagisa asks.

They're in the shopping district of Tokyo, and Karma is leading Nagisa into a small corner shop, holding her hand to ensure that they don't get separated.

"Hokkaido ice cream," Karma says, sounding pleased. "I love sweets and stuff, but this ice cream I would like even if I hated them. The owner's from Sapporo."

"That's nice," Nagisa hums, and Karma pushes open the door. A bell tinkles, and Nagisa glances around the shop. It looks like a typical ice cream shop, with booths and tables and chairs and tall seats at a counter. The only difference is...well, there are a lot of boys and girls in clumps. Everywhere, eating ice cream and...normal meals (seems like it's not an ice cream parlour) and eyeing the counter.

It's only when a woman glides out from behind the counter, beaming, that Nagisa sees why there are so many boys.

Her hair is long and a pale sheet of gold that is really pretty and reminds Nagisa of Isaki Meiko, Nagisa thinks, and she moves from behind the counter, not moves, _glides_ , and bends down in front of the pair of them. _The woman really is pretty._ She has a delicate and pretty face, and a nice smile, and she carries herself like the white queen from Alice in Wonderland movie, walking like she's doing a waltz of ballet.

"You're back again, huh, Karma?" She asks, blinking her almond shaped blue-green eyes at them. _No wonder there are so many boys_.

"The ice cream was too good," Karma shrugs.

" _U-Unfamiliar dialect_!" Nagisa whispers to herself in English.

"So you came back and brought a girlfriend?" The woman teases.

"If I say yes, will I get an extra cone?" Karma arches his brow, lifting their joined hands. "Or a free meal?"

" _Not the Kanto dialect,_ definitely _not the Tokyo dialect,_ or _the Kansai dialect, or the Osaka dialect..._ " Nagisa murmurs.

"Yes, naturally," The woman laughs, nice and warm. "I will have to congratulate you, and pity the little lady."

" _Hmm, Karma-kun said the owner was from Sapporo...Is she the owner? Is this what the Hokkaido dialect sounds like? The phrases are so interesting..._ " She blinks in surprise as someone jabs her in the side.

"Hey, what'cha thinking, Nadeshiko?" Karma asks.

"Nothing," She smiles placidly.

"You were speaking English too fast for me to get," Karma complains.

"Just thinking to myself," She reassures him. As though she can tell him she had been thinking about dialects.

"What would you like, little lady?" Nagisa jumps as the woman faces her, still with her placid and warm smile. The woman holds out a hand to her. "My name is Chi, and my mama owns this cafe. I'm twelve, soon thirteen, It's wonderful to meet you...?"

"Na-Nagisa," Nagisa stammers, lightly touching the woman's hand. To her surprise, the woman, or more like, girl pulls her in for a hug. _This woman is twelve? But she's so mature and beautiful..._

"Don't worry, a friend of Karma's is a friend of mine...or something!" Chi laughs and releases Nagisa. "We grew up together, since our parents have long been friends...I'll be kind to any friend of Karma's! Especially a girlfriend~"

"Girlfriend?" Nagisa tilts her head.

"Nothing to concern you about," Karma says dismissively. "Chi, can you fix two of the seven flavour ice?"

"Coming right up," Chi says cheerily. "You can go sit at the counter, and papa and mama are in the kitchen if you wanna tease papa."

"Sure," Karma tugs on Nagisa's hand. "Nadeshiko-chan, let's go."

"Thank you, Chi-san," Nagisa bows to Chi, then allows herself to be pulled along.

Karma sits her at one of the high seats that seem to be a necessity at counters, and Nagisa hopes she doesn't fall off. She peers straight ahead and sees that there's a window cut into the wall behind the counter to show the inside of a kitchen. "Who's Chi-san's papa and mama?"

"Hmm," Karma makes a slight noise of thoughtfulness. "Better not let you meet her mother first. _Just_ in case...Hey, Big Bow Wow, you in there?"

"Don't call me that!" An angry, deep, voice snarls.

"Oh, don't you sound _old_?" Karma smirks, and a man appears at the window. He has a stern face, with a square jaw and narrowed reddish-brown eyes, seeming to have a permanent scowl on his face. His dark hair sticks up in spikes, and Nagisa can't help but think that he _really_ does look old. "Poor Mama-san, being married to someone so grouchy and old mannish."

Nagisa sees the man's expression twitch before his frown deepens. "Old mannish? I'll teach you old mannish! Don't make me regret teaching you how to fight!"

And Nagisa's jaw drops.

 _This_ is where Karma learnt how to fight?

"Papa, they want a mac and cheese down table twelve," A boy suddenly hops over the counter, startling Nagisa, and hands a sheet of paper to the man. "And a lasagna. Tell mama."

"Oh, Syao-chan~!" Karma calls, seeming pleased. "Nadeshiko-chan, that's Chi's brother, you can call him Syao."

"Nice to meet you," Nagisa bows her head.

"It's not Syao, Karma," The boy sighs. "It's Li." _And this must be why all the girls are in the cafe._ The boy, Li, has messy brown hair, and serious reddish-brown eyes. His features are a little on the delicate side, and he has the same girlish face shape as Chi, but he's quite good looking and tall. "Nice to meet you, Nadeshiko-san."

"Um...it's Nagisa," Nagisa says a little awkwardly.

"I'll talk to you more later, Nadeshiko-san," Li says seriously, seeming not to have heard Nagisa and hops over the counter again. "I need to collect everyone's orders, be right back...Chi, please do _some_ work!"

"Aww, but Syao-Syao," Chi whines. "It's more fun to talk to the customers."

"You're so serious, Syao-chan!" Karma calls, seeming pleased by Li's reaction.

"How old is Li-kun?" Nagisa can't help but ask, in case the mature Li is some shocking age, like Chi.

"Same as Chi," Karma replies, and Nagisa very nearly falls off her chair. "Hey, Big Bow Wow, tell Mama-san that I want a special."

"Shut up, you brat," The man behind the window grumbles.

"Good to meet you, sir," Nagisa says a little awkwardly. "But may I know what to call you?"

"Kuro-chan!" A muted voice calls through the window, a voice that does not belong to the man, judging by it's sing-song quality and amused-sounding tone. "You can call him Kuro-rin, or Kuro-chan, or Kuro-tan, or Kuro-wan-wan, or Kuro-chi, or Kuro-pon, or Kuro-pipi, or Kuro-mun, or Kuro-ruro, or Kuro-daddy, or Papa-san, lady who sounds very cute!"

"Damn you, Fai!" The man...Kuro? Snarls. "It's your fault that the brat's like this!"

"You mean Karma-chan?" The voice, still muted, laughs. "Tell him 'Hi' and that the food's coming right up~"

Nagisa smiles a little. "They're a family running a cafe?" She whispers to Karma.

"Yeah," Karma smirks. "They're really funny. Chi and Mama-san are fun, fun, fun-"

"Thanks, Karma-chan! You're really fun too!" the muted voice calls again. "And I appreciate the pity for me being married to Kuro-mun!"

"Don't call me that!"

"-And Syao and Big Bow Wow, who's the Papa-san, are so serious, they're fun too. I come here every Christmas."

"And every day other," Kuro grumbles.

Pleased to be included in Karma's private tradition, Nagisa smiles. "Can I come too, from now on?"

Karma turns to her in surprise. "Of course! Why did you think I even _brought_ you here?"

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Later, they wonder around Tokyo, sometimes entering bookshops (Karma must have a really big wallet, he buys everything he wants) or clothes shops (both Karma and Nagisa aren't very fond of clothes stores) and ending their day in a shop selling curious knick-knacks, where Nagisa gives Karma his gift.

"Thanks, Nadeshiko-chan," Karma says, looking as though he wishes to tear open the wrapping.

"I'll go over there, so you can open it," Nagisa turns, walking to a corner in the store. Behind her, she can hear Karma ripping open the paper.

"What's this?" Karma asks, seeming surprised.

Nagisa spins around, feeling the blush staining her cheeks. "It's a...um...puzzle..."

"Puzzle?" Karma turns it over.

"One of those 3D ones," Nagisa mumbles, twiddling her thumbs. "It moves, too, once you've fixed it up...it's a model train, and you can paint it and the like when you're done...And well, Papa said that it may be too hard to a ten year old, but you're really smart, and-"

Karma doesn't let her finish, hugging her instead.

Nagisa starts, but relaxes slightly, and pats Karma's back. "Karma-kun?" She asks after a while. The two children _are_ attracting attention from the shop's customers.

"It's nothing, Nadeshiko-chan," Karma pulls away from Nagisa, smiling. And it's a real smile. "I didn't get you anything."

"But I got to go to the cafe, and you bought me ice cream and swedish meatballs," Nagisa tries to reassure Karma, beaming at him. "And I'm happy that you're my friend."

"I'm your _only_ friend," Karma rolls his eyes.

"Yes," Nagisa nods, still beaming. "And you're the most popular guy in school and you have loads of friends, and I'm probably being _a little too full of myself_ ," She says in English, unsure of it's japanese equivalent. "But you brought _me_ to the cafe and you're hanging out with _me_ today, and it makes me _really_ happy."

And Karma looks at her like her like she's a little insane and chortles. "No, you're very interesting, Nadeshiko-chan," he says between gasps of laughter. "I think we'll be very good friends."

"Hmm," Nagisa smiles a little wider, and says. "Maybe you won't be my only friend anymore. If I make friends next year, what will you do?"

"How mean," Karma laughs a little more, then manages to stop. "What should we do now?"

"Hmm, I'm fine with anything," Nagisa hums, then claps her hands together. "Can I go to a library?"

"Of course," Karma nods. "If you make friends next year, I'll buy things for you from the cafe everyday."

"How about we go to the cafe every day?" Nagisa muses.

"Anything," Karma nods, looking happy. "Anything."

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

 _Primary/Grade Five:_

"My mom wants you to come for dinner," It's twelve thirty a.m. on Christmas Day, and Karma and Nagisa are on the phone.

"That's very kind of her, I'd be happy to go," Nagisa says, smiling as she plays with the landline. " _Merry Christmas, Karma-kun."_

"You don't have any plans with your _friends_?" Karma asks, probably rolling his eyes. " _Merry Chrisumasu, Nadeshiko-chan."_

"No, they've been friends ever since they could walk, and it would be rude for me to intrude on them. I've sent them their gifts," Nagisa glances at the coffee table, where Karma's present sits. A small knick-knack, as her father would say. A curiosity, Karma's mother would say. "When can we go to the cafe again?" She whispers, lowering her voice. For some reason, every time they talked about the cafe, Nagisa felt that it was sacred to be spoken about loudly.

"We've been there practically every day the whole year," Karma says in amusement.

"But going there on christmas seems special," Nagisa pouts, wondering why Karma seemed so amused.

"Well, would you like to go now?" Karma asks cheerily.

"Go...now?!" Nagisa gasps. "But it's so late!"

"It's only just past midnight on christmas, Nadeshiko-chan," Karma says, sound amused. "I hope you've slept well. I plan on dragging you there."

"But it's so late, can't this wait until morning-"

"Give me until three," Karma interrupts.

"Three?" Nagisa blinks.

"Two thirty, then I'll get you back to your house, OK?" Karma asks.

"Uh...alright..." Nagisa nods slowly. She and Karma _do_ know the cafe owners well (though she still hasn't seen the mysterious Mama-san).

"Maybe you can meet Mama-san soon," Karma hums.

"Really?!" Nagisa sits up straight. All she knows of Chi and Li's infamous 'Mama-san' is that she loves to tease Kuro, and that she's very funny and very kind.

"Yeah, and Mokona, he'll be home in time for Christmas this year," Karma laughs, and it's staticy over the line.

"Do you think you can get me back before three without my mother and papa noticing?" Nagisa asks.

"I'll do my best," Karma says easily.

"Alright, where do I meet you?" Nagisa twists the cord of the phone. It _is_ really late, and she's only eleven.

"Where do you live again? I'll get the butler to drive us," Karma replies.

 _The butler..._

Nagisa tells him where she lives, then laughs. "I forgot that you were rich..."

"Well, you only found out this summer, didn't you?" Karma snorts.

"I think it'll be alright if I only hang out at your house," Nagisa half-shrugs, even though Karma can't see her. "We can go to the cafe when they're open. I'd hate to-"

"It's fine. Everyone's awake," Karma sighs. "It's Christmas, and Mama-san likes to celebrate like crazy."

"So I can really meet Mama-san?" Nagisa whispers.

"Yes," Nagisa hears a muffled conversation from Karma's end. "OK, I'll be at yours in ten."

"Huh?"

"I'll be at your house in ten minutes," Karma says slowly. "It's called idiot speak. Or teen speak. Or something."

"What's wrong with normal japanese," Nagisa grumbles, but stands. "I'll go get ready."

"Yep. Bye, Nadeshiko-chan!"

"Bye bye, Karma-kun."

In the ten minutes that she has, Nagisa slips on a coat over her pajamas, slides mittens onto her hands and fixes a hat onto her head. After a moments hesitation, she picks up the jars of cookies she had set aside to give to Chi, Li, Kuro and Mama-san.

By the time she's done, she's still got seven minutes left.

Nagisa picks up her scarf and struggles with it to waste five minutes, then takes Karma's gift, the cookies, and leaves the house quietly, then presses the button to call for the lift.

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"Wow, you snuck out?" Chi giggles, gripping Nagisa's arm to steady herself as she sways to and fro.

They're now at the cafe, and Nagisa is quite surprised at what she sees. Chi had greeted them at the door of the cafe, smiling cheerfully before she offered Nagisa and Karma some cookies and let them in. If Nagisa hadn't known better, she would have thought that Chi had been drunk.

"Not really, Chi-san," Nagisa says in exasperation, then looks at Karma, silently begging him for help. "I walked right out of the front door."

"Tee hee, isn't that stiiiiilllll sneaking oooouuuut?" Chi drawls, and Nagisa looks around the empty cafe.

"Syao-chan! Your sister's acting drunk again!" Karma shouts, then winks at Nagisa.

"Huh?" Li's face appears at the window behind the counter, and he only glances at Chi before he sighs and climbs through. Hopping over the counter, he drapes Chi's arm around him and wraps an arm around her waist, guiding her behind the counter. "Mama, Chi is-"

"Eh, did my little Chi eat the macarons?" Nagisa blinks in surprise as another face appears at the window behind the counter, this time an unfamiliar one. The person, the mysterious Mama-san, it seems, has a playful smile on, and the clearest and most beautiful blue-green eyes Nagisa has ever seen, and is even better looking than Chi's. Mama-san has a delicate oval face and in chin that ends at a sharp point, like both Chi and Li have, and the same pale sheet of gold hair that Chi has, only shorter, just past the shoulders, save for one long ponytail draped on the shoulder.

"Mama-san is very pretty," Nagisa observes, feeling a very very awed.

"Why thank you, little lady," The person smiles, pleased. "You can call me Yuui."

"Yuui-mama," Nagisa nods. "It's good to finally meet you, Yuui-mama."

"Hmm," Yuui's blue-green eyes bore into Nagisa. "Ah, I see what you meant when you said that she was like me, Syao-chan."

"I'm like you?" Nagisa tilts her head.

"One second," Yuui's face disappears, then a door to the side of the counter, labeled 'staff and monkeys only' (monkeys?!) swings open.

And Nagisa's jaw drops.

"Mama!" Chi yells in glee, racing forward and throwing her arms around Yuui, nuzzling into Yuui's collarbone.

"You're a guy," Nagisa says quietly.

"And you, are you a male, or a female, sweetie?" Yuui asks, smiling, wrapping his arms around Chi and patting her head.

Yuui is tall and slender, like an acrobat. Nagisa can see the places where Li and Chi have inherited his genes, and she sees Kuro's dark eyes and tanned skin on Li's, and his both their children have Kuro's ears...but two men cannot have children...

"How am I like you, sir?" Nagisa tilts her head.

"Well, you thought I was a girl earlier, right?" Yuui beams. "I get that a lot. Sometimes I even wear girl's clothing and parade as one for fun. I am...androgynous, as are you."

"Doesn't that just mean that I look like a boy?" Nagisa sighs.

"No, on the contrary, you're very beautiful," Yuui praises, and Nagisa frowns. _That word_. "But if you were to cut your hair, you'd look like a very pretty boy. It's very helpful in life."

"Did Kuro-kun know that you were a man when he married you?" Nagisa asks, her brow furrowed.

"That's rude," Li suddenly snaps.

"It's fine, Syao-chan!" Yuui spreads his arms. "Do you need a hug too, my son?"

"Yay, group hug!" Chi squeals.

"But Mama," Li grudgingly walks into Yuui's embrace, pressing his face against Yuui's collar. "Nadeshiko-san's being impolite."

Yuui hugs his children for a few seconds, then releases them. "Kurorururo! Get some apple cider here! The non-alcoholic type!"

"Not _that_ name!" A familar snappy voice yells. The Staff and Monkey's door swings open again. "Hey, kid," Kuro says, staring at Nagisa.

"Yes?" Nagisa meets his gaze, feeling ashamed at herself for asking Yuui so many questions.

"I knew that Fai...Yuui, whatever name he's using now, was a man ever since the first time I saw him," Kuro says firmly. "And you have no right to question our relationship."

"I'm just curious..." Nagisa looks away, and takes a deep breath. "I apologise for being rude."

"No problem, little lady!" Yuui laughs, and pats Nagisa's head, pulling off her hat. "Such a cute hat. Chi, come here," Chi obeys her...mama? And Yuui places the hat on Chi, before returning her attention to Nagisa. "Makes me think that you're a literature person. Maybe one day you can write a novel on us?"

"No way, Mama-san. Anyway, it's Christmas! Mama-san! Cider and Ice Cream! And sweets!" Karma says cheerfully. "Come, Nagisa-san."

Nagisa starts.

He used her name.

"Let's go round back," Karma takes her hand and guides her through the Staff and Monkey door. "That's where all the food is."

She can't help but feel even more ashamed at herself.

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"I was so terrible," Nagisa whispers, as she and Karma re-enter his family car, with a man in black driving. In her hands, she grips a small basket of food Chi and Li had packed for her.

"Your reaction was one of the better ones," Karma reassures her. "Better get you to bed, it's almost two-thirty."

"It's like Cinderella," Nagisa murmurs, and sorts through the basket. Ah, Chi packed the macaroons. Nagisa feels a little pleased about that. When she ate them, they made her feel really warm, though a little lightheaded. Li had been very against packing them, so Nagisa is glad.

"But the timing is off," Karma snorts.

"Way off," Nagisa agrees, eating a macaroon. _Ah, these are really good...Chi-san said that Kuro-papa made them..._

"Wait, did you lock the front door behind you?"

"Yeah?" Nagisa blinks, and finishes off another macaroon.

"How are you going to get into your house now?" Karma asks.

 _Oh_.

She considers it, takes another macaroon. "I think there's a fire escape outside my window..." She says uncertainly, eating the sweet.

"I better help you up it, then," Karma laughs. "Imagine Nagisa, climbing a fire escape in the dead of night, in her pajamas."

"It does sound silly, doesn't it?" Nagisa smiles, dusts the crumbs from her fingers into the basket, then takes Karma's hands, which are warm, like fire. "But see? I'm all warm."

"No, your hands are a little cold," Karma begins rubbing them to warm them up. She really does feel warm, and cozy, like she's in a blanket. Letting out a contented noise, she leans against Karma. He's radiating heat.

"But I've got my mittens and my coat and my hat..." Nagisa smiles, gesturing to her coat, then her mittens, lying on her hat, then realises that her hat lacks it's usual wait. She pauses. "Where's my hat?" She blinks, pulling one hand from Karma to feel around her head. _Is it on her head? But she can't feel it? Well, she's very warm anyway._ "I'm all warm, so nevermind my hat."

"I think Mama-san has it," Karma says, amused. "Remember when he took it off your head?"

"Ah..." Nagisa frowns, then picks at her scarf. She can't think straight right now. _Hat...?_ It's strangely warm and cozy in the car, next to Karma, who suddenly seems to be like a heater.

"You're hopeless," Karma releases her hand and helps her with the fabric, winding it around and around her neck and knotting it. "There."

She smiles uncertainly, and carries on picking at her scarf. She feels a little dizzy, and her vision is swimming. She blinks and it clears. "How long more?"

"Just a bit," Karma reassures her, then passes a hand over her brow. "Are you alright?"

"Just a little tired," Nagisa rests her head against Karma's, and takes a soft breath in, stretching her hands in front of her face. _Hands are a really strange shape..._ "My head's fuzzy..."

"Did you eat the macaroons?" Suddenly sounding worried, Karma presses his hand against her forehead. "Kuro-pon-pon always puts weird things in them."

"Weird...things?" She asks slowly.

"Sake sometimes," Karma shakes his head. "That's why Chi was acting so weird?"

"Chi...san?" Nagisa blinks. "Hey, Karma-kun?"

"Yes?"

" _Li-kun...why do you and Yuui-mama call him Syao?_ " Without noticing, Nagisa lapses into English.

"I'll tell you another day...did you eat the macaroons?" Karma demands, strict now.

" _Yes, I ate a loooooooooooooot_ ," Nagisa beams, spreading her arms to show how much, then stops, frowning. "Oh, no, _the mother won't won't be happy..."_

" ' _The mother?_ ' " Karma blinks.

" _The mother, my mother,"_ Nagisa explains, feeling a little queasy.

"Why would she be angry?"

" _She'll be livid_ ," Nagisa murmurs, and she sighs and sits up properly. " _I'm not supposed to eat sweets...the mother regulates my meals."_

" _'Regulate'?_ " Karma considers her word, then opens and closes his mouth like a goldfish.

" _The Japanese accent is so cute,"_ Nagisa giggles, and stretches her hand in front of her. Then, frowning, she picks up a macaroon from the basket and bites half of it off, chewing. " _Oooo, this is good. Kuro-papa knows how to bake!"_

"Yeah, I think you've had enough,"Karma takes the basket away from Nagisa.

" _They're good. Want one, Karma-kun?"_ Nagisa sticks out the half macaroon to Karma.

"What did you mean by regulate?" Karma asks, eating the macaroon.

" _She watches what I eat_ ," Nagisa takes another macaroon from the basket...oh, it's in Karma's lap now.

"What happens if you eat out of what she wants you to eat?" Karma asks guardedly.

" _She hits me,_ " Nagisa responds, and takes another macaroon.

Karma falls silent.

Nagisa guesses he doesn't believe her. " _See_?" Nagisa rolls up her sleeve and displays an ugly burn on it. " _I didn't listen to her, because I'm a terrible and disobedient, and ugly child...well, I was cooking with her, and the mother grabbed my arm and held it over the fire. It was painful..."_

Karma's jaw drops.

The car stops.

" _Oh, I'm home_!" Nagisa exclaims in surprise. " _Ah, I don't want to go back_ ," She pouts, and rolls down her sleeve.

"You have to," Karma says almost gently, slipping out of the car and helping her out. " _Let's get you to your room_."

" _Sure_ ," Nagisa says hazily, then frowns. " _Oh...I forgot."_

"What is it?"

" _The mother's holding a Christmas party and I have to help her,"_ Nagisa sighs. " _I can't go dinner with your folks, Karma-kun. Sorry...or go downtown with you...it's good that we went to the cafe, though, or I'd have to break that tradition..."_

"You'll be busy the whole day?" Karma leads her to the back of her apartment block. Nagisa wonders why.

" _Yes, got to...cater food...set up the table...and wear one of the abdominal dresses the mother has set aside for me,_ " Nagisa sighs. _"Then Papa and I will have to decorate, and the mother will greet her guests and I'll have to be a little lady...or something."_

" ' _Abdominal_ '," Karma laughs, a nice sound, and sets her hand on a ladder rung. "Where'd you learn that word?"

" _Enid Blyton_ ," Nagisa responds, and blinks at the ladder in front of her. " _Do I climb?_ "

"Yes, until you get to your room," Karma instructs. "I'll be right behind you, so just go."

"OK," and Nagisa climbs.

She has little memory of this incident the rest of the day, when she's too busy running around the house, cleaning up and setting the table and cooking.

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 _Primary/Grade Six:_

"It's my third Christmas in Japan today," Nagisa whispers into the phone, playing with the phone chord.

She can't help but feel a little pleased. It's the third year, and she and Karma are doing this again. On the phone. At twelve-thirty in the morning. Glancing around the living room, Nagisa lets out a soft sigh.

"Yep, congratulations, Nagisa-san," Karma hums.

" _Merry Christmas, Karma-kun,_ " Nagisa says, pleased.

" _Merry Chrisumasu, Nagisa-san_ ," Karma laughs.

Nagisa swallows, then closes her eyes and lowers her voice. " _Happy Birthday, Karma-kun._ "

"...!" There's a stunned silence over the line.

"Yuui-mama told me," Nagisa admits. "He was super surprised that I didn't know."

"Well...!" Karma seems dumbstruck, then laughs. "Don't tell me you got me two gifts."

"Of course!" Nagisa half-shoulds, indignant.

"Well, I only found out your birthday last year," She can practically _hear_ Karma's smirk. "And you hadn't wanted to tell me either. Fair's fair."

"Fair's fair," Nagisa agrees, then giggles.

"What?"

"Nothing," Nagisa smiles. "I think I heard papa stirring. I'd better go. See you later today."

"Ah, bye, Nagisa-san," sounding puzzled, Karma hangs up.

Nagisa glances around the living room.

 _I asked papa yesterday, so it'll be fine,_ Nagisa reassures herself, brushing herself off. She's in her best dress, wearing her coat over and her hat and her mittens... _I asked Mr and Mrs Akabane, too. It'll be fine..._

And she opens the door and puts on her best boots, grabs a basket she's put Karma's presents in, takes a deep breath, and leaves the house.

If Mrs Akabane is to be trusted (and she is, she is) she has a car prepared for Nagisa.

And there is one, at the bottom floor of her apartment block. Nagisa opens the door and peeks in.

"To the Akabanes?" The driver asks.

"Yes, please," Nagisa slides into the car.

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And they're at the Akabane's mansion in no time.

"Thank you," Nagisa waves at the driver before bussing on the intercom. _It's snowing...a white christmas_ , she smiles.

After a few minutes, she's let through and in the grand entry way of the mansion, greeted by Karma's parents.

Mrs Akabane, with her mass of blonde curls, wraps her arms around Nagisa and giggles as she knocks the snow from Nagisa's shoulders.

"Shh," Mr Akabane chides.

" _I can't help it_!" Mrs Akabane cries in English. "Please _let me film that boy's face when he sees her! It'll be the stuff from his dreams_!"

"No," Mr Akabane frowns, speaking Japanese. Nagisa squirms. It's rude to leave without excusing herself, but Mrs and Mr Akabane's arguments can carry on forever, and only be stopped when one kisses the other. "Only _I_ get to film that."

"Oh hell _no_ ," Mrs Akabane folds her arms. Nagisa kicks off her boots. " _I'm_ filming it, and _I'm_ posting it on Instagram, twitter, Facebook-oh, she's gone."

Racing up the stairs to the third floor, Nagisa tiptoes down the corridor, going to the room she knows is Karma's.

Smiling to herself, she knocks on the door.

"I swear," Karma's voice comes from the other side "If it's you, hag, I really will-" The door swings open. Karma stops speaking. "...Nagisa?"

And Mrs Akabane _is_ right.

Karma's expression is priceless.

"You looks so cute," Nagisa giggles, seeing Karma in his sleepwear (a thick sweater that swallows him and loose pants, it seems) and that coupled with the euphoria for _finally surprising Akabane Karma_ , it makes her say something she wouldn't normally.

"No, that's you," Karma says automatically, then shakes his head, clearing his expression. "What are you...? Nagisa-san, mind explaining...?"

" _Happy Birtsday_!" Nagias beams, throwing her arms around Karma. " _Happy Birthday and Happy Birthday!"_

"Wha-!" Karma nearly gets knocked over by Nagisa's weight. "Uh, okay, you're hugging me...um, okay." He brings his arms around her.

"I'm sorry I didn't know before," Nagisa pouts, and pulls away from Karma a little, keeping her arms around Karma. "I really wanted to celebrate your birthday with you..."

"Why?" Karma asks.

"Because," Nagisa responds, beaming. "Because you're Karma-kun."

"But you hate your own birthday," Karma points out.

Nagisa fumbles a little at that. He could tell? "That's because it's mine...If _you_ hate your birthday, I won't ever celebrate it, really..."

"I don't hate it," Karma smirks. "Anyway, for little Nagisa-chan, I'm gonna call you Nagisa-chan from now on, to make her way through the freezing snow for me, that's something I can hold over Yanagi."

Nagisa blinks. "Why do Naruru and you keep fighting?"

"Oh, I want something that is precious to her," Karma says easily. "And she doesn't want to give it."

"Hmm," Nagisa frowns. "If it's precious to her-"

"But it doesn't belong to her," Karma tightens his hold around Nagisa and presses her head against his chest.

"Hmm?" Nagisa blinks, confused. With a soft smile, she closes her eyes and enjoys Karma's embrace.

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Nagisa's back in her room (has been for a while), and it's nine in the morning.

Her father sits at the end of her bed.

"How was last night?" He asks.

"Fun," Nagisa beams. "We planned Karma-kun's party until I had to go back. It's tonight, and I think I'll attend."

"That's good," Her father smiles, slow and warm, the way Nagisa does too. "And this afternoon?"

"Meiko, Naruko and Chihiro invited me to hang out with them," Nagisa shrugs. "I haven't gotten back to them."

"Hmm," Her father's brow creases. "If I send you out with a errand list, and give you until three to complete it, would you manage it?"

"Of course," Nagisa smiles.

"Alright, go get showered," Her father pats her head. "You've got a day with your friends planned."

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"Running errands?" Naruko frowns, and flicks her glasses. "Boring."

"If we do not do this, Nacchan won't be able to hang out with us," Chihiro reminds Naruko, carrying a thick book as always.

"Meiko is alright with it, because Nacchan's with us today!" Meiko beams. "And besides, if Meiko thinks about it as a treasure hunt, it'll be fun!"

"Scavenger hunt, Meicchi," Chihiro amends.

"A scavenger hunt, huh?" Naruko considers this, then flips her curly hair. "Alright."

"Thank you," Nagisa smiles at her friends, then looks at her list. "Uh, get streamers, balloons and a party hat..."

They spend their afternoon having a...scavenger hunt.

(And Naruko and Meiko's antics cause them to be banned from four shops, two cafes and a once-public restroom)

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"Papa, I'm home," Nagisa calls, pushing open the door with her shoulder, her arms laden with shopping bags.

"My little Nagisa!" A sickly sweet voice calls.

Nagisa bites her lip.

"I'm home, my mother," She calls, a little softer.

"Welcome back, sweetie!" Her mother appears in the entryway, looking miffed.

 _Ah._

"Come in, quickly," She gives a tired, forced, smile.

Nagisa doesn't move.

Her mother's eyes turn furious and she grabs Nagisa's arm, yanking her into the house and slamming the door. Nagisa narrowly misses getting her finger shut on.

"My mother," Nagisa says softly.

"My colleagues are here," Her mother hisses. Understanding, Nagisa shuts up. "My daughter," Using a fake pleasant voice, Nagisa's mother brings her to the living room, where a group of men and women sit.

"She's very pretty," One of the women say.

"Thank you, ma'am," Nagisa drops the plastic bags, and curtseys.

"Nagisa, I need you here!" Her father calls down the hallway.

"My apologies, my father is calling," Nagisa curtseys again, picks up her bags, and hurries away.

"How was it?" Her father asks, smiling as Nagisa enters his room.

"Fun, so very fun," Nagisa beams.

"I'm glad," Her father takes the bags from her, then gives her a look.

"Nagisa...your mother wants to hold another party."

"Tonight?" Nagisa asks, dreading the answer.

"Yes. You'll have to miss Karma's birthday party."

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

 **PART TWO WILL BE OUT SOON**

 **I THINK**

 **MAYBE BY BOXING DAY?**

 **SORRYCAN'TTALKLONGBEINGCHASEDTOBEDGAHSEEYOUPLEASEREVIEWIFYOULIKED:P SORRYFORWRITINGTOOMUCHABOUTTHECAFEBECAUSEIT'SSORTASIGNIFICANTINTHEBACKSTORYANDTHAT'SALLIHAVETOSAYYEP BYE!**

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

 _ **Part two:**_

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

 **WHEW IT'S DAYLIGHT AND WOW I'M FEELING FESTIVE ONE DAY LATE WOW**

 **That is to say - I'm back in my home country, and at home, and the house is very quiet *lowers voice* I feel strange inside :P**

 **AND ON THE TOPIC OF WHY THIS IS LATE:**

 **My sister broke the wifi router. (It has this glass wire that's really important...well, she broke it)**

 **Yep.**

 **So, it's been down until recently.**

 ***sigh***

 **So, I'm sorry this is so late (bless the world for the notes app in my phone - it's been what I've been using)**

 **And wow, I've really had bad luck this year *cross expression* well, I hope next year will be a better one.**

 **Happy new year's eve!**

 **Warnings: An ungodly amount of Tsubasa reference (oops, you guys caught me!) and If Nagisa seems overly mature, I'm writing her personality based on mine when I was each respective age (except the first one. That one I just guessed what nine-year olds were like) so you can fault my weirdness for her being very grown up and indecisive. Also, the 12-13 one is pretty strange. Cause, like, uh, well, you'll find out.**

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

"But Papa!" Nagisa stares at her father in horror. "Karma-kun..."

"I know, Nagisa," Her father says quietly. "I know."

She doesn't say anything more, just stands there, staring at her father.

 _Miss the birthday she had said she'd spend with him..._

"I have to, have to call..." She murmurs, feeling frantic. "Karma-kun..."

"Calm down, Nagisa," Her father doesn't meet her eye as he speaks. "The party is at seven-thirty, as long as you make it back on time, you can do both, right?"

"Karma-kun's party is at seven, papa, it doesn't work out," She despairs.

"Alright...I didn't want to give this speech, but I will, because it's my natural obligation as a parent to," Her father sighs. "You are still only twelve. In your life you will meet a lot of people, want to do a lot of things. So, Nagisa, missing one party won't matter in the big picture of things."

Looking away, Nagisa thinks over her father's words. Finally, she speaks. "But it'll bother me _now_."

"I know it will," Her father pats her head. "But Nagisa I cannot tell you what to do. What _do_ you want to do?"

...

Nagisa looks away.

From when she had been born, only two people had always been by her side.

Her father

and

Her mother

Her mother always told her 'You _will_ enter a prestigious junior high and high school, and you _will_ go to the school that rejected me as a teen. You _will_ wear this, you _will_ do that', while her father always said 'where do _you_ want to go? What do _you_ want to do? Do _you_ need help?'

The difference between her parents are pretty great.

"I don't know," Nagisa says, but she does.

"Are you sure?" Her father presses his hand against Nagisa's forehead.

"...Go out again," Nagisa murmurs.

"What?"

"Go out again," Nagisa repeats, more firmly.

"Alright," her father sighs. "There will be consequences."

"There will be whether I go out now or not," Nagisa declares, and it is true, then stands. "I will be off then..."

"Have a safe trip," her father replies softly.

And she dashes to the door, pleased that her father isn't stopping her. Grateful that her mother is occupied with her guests, she opens the door and rushes out into the biting cold.

 _Once, when Nagisa's mother had discovered how Nagisa had been disobeying her for little less than a few years..._

 _(Changing from the frilly dresses her mother made her wear to school, to more simple dresses or skirts and shirts)_

Her feet guide her down a familiar path, running to the station, her breath coming out in clouds of murky vapour.

 _...Nagisa's face had been scratched up by her Mother...  
_

Nagisa waits impatiently for the train, hopping from foot to foot to ward away the cold (it doesn't work), until it arrives, and then she dashes into the female-only carriage and nearly stomps her foot at the long time that the train takes to set off.

 _...Still, this is Karma she's thinking about. Should she miss her mother's party...  
_

Grabbing onto a pole, Nagisa sucks in her breath, counts to twenty, then exhales, until she's arrive at the right station.

 _...Or Karma's?  
_

After that, it's simply a matter of rushing up to the streets and letting her body guide her to the familiar route.

 _Karma wouldn't fault her if she is unable to attend...  
_

(Nagisa falls down on occasion, but it's nothing too bad)

 _...he'll just be really upset, but he'd hide it behind smiles and jokes.  
_

When she arrives at the door of the cafe, she throws it open.

 _She had missed one of her mother's parties before, being unwell.  
_

"Akabane Karma had better be in here," Nagisa murmurs to herself.

 _...The result had been...  
_

Karma _is_ there (Thank goodness), sitting at the counter, stirring his drink mindlessly.

 _...painful, so painful, she couldn't walk for a few days.  
_

And Nagisa is so relieved, she collapses onto her knees and allows herself to feel the cold. Then she becomes numb all over. Since her vision is spinning, she slowly closes her eyes.

 _Karma, definitely.  
_

"Nagisa?" She hears someone ask in surprise. Chi, maybe?

 _He's her precious friend.  
_

"You look like a ghost!" Someone else says, Nagisa isn't sure who.

 _She'll go to his party. She doesn't want to lose him.  
_

She shudders, thinking about the punishment in store for her. Her family had recently bought a new oven. Would her mother use that? She touches the lighter, colder skin of her inner arm, and wonders if her mother will burn her again.

 _Maybe she shouldn't...  
_

Then, gentle hands are dusting her off, careful to use just enough force so that it doesn't hurt, but gets the...the _whatever_ off, and she blinks her eyes open stares at the flakes that fall from her body.

There's snow on her shoulders, snow in her hair, snow all over her front, on her skirt.

Golden-red eyes peer anxiously at her, two beautiful orbs in a face of her friend.

"Nagisa?" A familiar voice, filled with uncharacteristic worry and a little bit of fear.

"Karma-kun?" Reaching out, Nagisa touches Karma's face, still smooth even at age twelve. Then, she lets her hand drop to her side.

"Are you alright?" Karma asks, and then fingers are running through her hair and chunks of snow are falling out.

She shuts her eyes.

 _Karma is very kind,_ she thinks. _There's no way I can miss his party for one of my mother's boring ones._

"Oh, right!" Grabbing Karma's shoulders, Nagisa looks him square in the eye. "I'm definitely going to your birthday party." _Even if it might kill me._..she adds silently.

"I know," Karma blinks a few times, before narrowing his eyes in suspicion. "I would have guessed, you know. Since you helped plan it. Did something happen?"

"Something..." Nagisa blanches. How would she act normally? Maybe a smile and a few words...what words? Maybe, maybe, maybe, something about food? Oh goodness, Nagisa is _rubbish_ at lying. "Nothing, why you ask?"

"Are you even trying to lie?" Karma helps her stand, and guides her to the chairs at the counter, helping her up one. "Big Bow Wow, a hot meal for Nagisa-chan, and a-"

"Already on it," Kuro's gruff voice grumbles. Nagisa blinks and then the 'Staff and Monkeys' door swings open. Gliding out, dressed as a female (and a really attractive one, too), is Yuui, with Kuro right on his heels.

"Ah," Yuui drapes a cloak over Nagisa's shoulders as she shivers, and Kuro places a cup of some brown liquid in front of her. Hot chocolate, most likely. "Thank you," Nagisa picks up the cup, then smiles at Yuui and Kuro.

Around the cafe, she can hear whispers. Most of the whisperers are staring at her, then Yuui and Kuro. Well, Yuui and Kuro are standing like a married couple, she supposes, Yuui's back to Kuro's front and Kuro's arm around Yuui's waist.

"Nagisa, are you really okay?" Behind the counter, Chi and Li stare at her, and Nagisa sees their likeness for the first time, since they both have twin expressions of worry.

"I'm fine," She smiles, and it's an exhilarated one.

"People who are fine are people who typically put on shoes and a coat before heading out into freezing cold weather," Yuui reminds Nagisa's gently.

"Sorry, Yuui-mama," Nagisa reaches out and manages to take Yuui's hand. Squeezing it, she tries to pass on how fine she is.

She is going to go against her mother.

And it is going to feel _wonderful_.

 _(Well, at least, until she gets home after Karma's party.)  
_

"All I can feel is how cold your hands are, little Nagisa-nyan-nyan," Yuui says gently, and begins rubbing them to warm them, crouching beside her. Kuro doesn't say much, his hand falling from Yuui's waist, but stands at his other side.

"Now, what really happened?" Karma asks, narrowing his eyes.

"Nothing, really," Nagisa says easily. "Chi-san, Li-kun-"

"Just call me Syaoran," Li interrupts.

"Is that your real name?" Nagisa smiles.

"Yes."

"Then...Syao-kun," Nagisa nods to herself. "Syao-kun and Chi-san-"

"At least say -chan!" Chi protests.

 _These two siblings..._ Nagisa nearly signs, but keeps it in. "Then, Chi-chan, Syao-kun, Kuro-papa and Yuui-mama should return to their work."

"No way!" Chi yelps, only for Yuui to nudge Kuro.

"We're worried about Nadeshiko-san too," Li...Syaoran says, narrowing his eyes.

Without hesitation, Kuro takes both Chi and Syaoran and pulls them to the tables.

"Ugh, we'd better get the full story later!" Chi more or less screams over her shoulder.

"I really am fine," Nagisa reaffirms, as Yuui continues rubbing her hands. "Honest. My hands are cold even normally, right, Karma?"

"Let me touch," is his answer. Yuui doesn't hesitate, and releases Nagisa's hands. Karma takes them and presses then against his chest. She blinks. For some reason, her heart feels... _strange_. She closes her eyes and tries to listen. It's not fluttering, it's calmed down. Usually, her heart beats really fast, like _reaaaaaally_ fast, but now it's slowed down enough to be like her father's.

 _Huh.  
_

She looks at Karma, who is carefully inspecting her hands, then her arms (do his eyes linger on her burn mark? Most people don't know how burns look like, but Karma _is_ an intelligent person) and she can help but smile and squeeze his hands.

(Karma's hands are warm.)

"Nothing happened, see, I fine," Nagisa says firmly. "I'm just going attend your party, I just thought I'd just maybe just confirm it."

"Your grammar goes all wonky when you're lying," Karma notes.

"Eh, reallllly?" Yuui giggles, and moves behind the counter, leaning so that he can look through the window. "Papa-chan, some sake, please!"

"And get you drunk again? No way!" Kuro snorts. _When did he get into the kitchen?_

"I'm a wonderful drunk," Yuui imitates Kuro's snort, then beams, waving Kuro's refusal off. "Then, _chocoluavau_ _caki_ (Chocolava cake)! Kuro-ryu! With lots of _loooveeeeee_!"

"Gross," Kuro grumbles, but Nagisa hears him shift around inside the kitchen.

"You know you love me, Kuro-rin!" Yuui laughs loudly.

"How nice," Nagisa says softly. "Yuui-mama is very pretty when he dresses like that."

By that, Nagisa refers to the pretty dress the slender Yuui has on, paired with high heels that look painful. Somehow, Yuui looks more like a girl than normal.

"Why thank you, Nagi-pyon!" Yuui throws his arms around Nagisa. "See, see, Kuro-ruu, you have to compliment me when I wear pretty things, or I'll get saaaaaaad." In Nagisa's ear, Yuui whispers, "I'm wearing a body suit that gives me curves."

"Fine," Kuro sighs, then yells. "You look very pretty you thing."

"Aww, you!" releasing Nagisa, Yuui sticks his face through the window behind the counter. "Let me give you a kiss~"

"Eh, flirting in front of us, Mama-san?" Karma calls, sounding amused. "Gonna get another baby?"

"You know it!" Yuui laughs.

"Now, back to the matter at hand," Karma stares into Nagisa's eyes.

"Yes?" Nagisa smiles.

"Tell me the truth," Karma frowns, then places his hand on her neck. "This is your pulse point. I'll be able to tell if you're lying."

"Yes." Nagisa nods, unsure what else to say. Her heartbeat calms down again, and she shuts her eyes.

"Does it have to do with your mother?"

"Of course not," Nagisa lies, and looks him in the eye. Her heartbeat speeds up and she sighs. "Well, she'll only be a little angry."

"A little, huh," Karma narrows his golden eyes. "Ri-igghhhht."

"Yes," Nagisa nods. It's not true though.

Her mother will be extremely angry.

"Lie," Karma says easily. "Are you missing her Christmas Party?"

"Yes, of course," Nagisa smiles again. True.

"Attend it."

"Absolutely not," Nagisa narrows her eyes.

"If you miss it, she'll hit you, right?" Karma almost snaps, leaning closer to Nagisa.

She freezes.

Then, Nagisa jerks back from Karma's touch, her head crashing against flooring as she falls from her stool.

"Nagisa!" Chi dashes to her, and helps her up.

But all Nagisa can do is stare at Karma.

"How did you...?" Nagisa says slowly.

She's barely aware of Chi, gripping her elbow and slinging an arm around her.

She's barely aware of Syaoran, who examines her head, trying to determine if any damage is caused.

She's barely aware of Yuui, who fixes her cloak and gives her a plate of something to eat.

She's barely aware of Kuro, watching through the window, his expression the same as ever, but his hand reaching out slightly.

Nagisa closes her eyes, then opens them.

"But she will, won't she?" Karma narrows his eyes.

She takes a deep breath, then slowly shakes her head.

"You're lying," Karma frowns. "You told me so yourself, and now that I've had a better look at your life, it's a definite. You're being abu-"

Without thinking, Nagisa lunges forward and covers Karma's mouth with her hand.

"Don't say it," she whispers. "Don't say it."

The whole cafe is watching them again.

"But she is," Karma snaps, swatting away her hand. "And that's-"

"No, no, no," Nagisa covers his mouth. "Don't say it, don't!"

And her face is wet, suddenly.

Nagisa blinks, and there are tears in her eyes.

"Nagisa..." Karma forgets the honorific. Reaching out, his hands stop short of her face. "You..."

"I'm sorry," she shakes her head. "I shouldn't have come..." She rubs her eyes, but the tears keep coming. "E-Eh...? Why am I..."

"I'd like to know too," Karma says quietly.

"Ah, I'm sorry," she says again.

The expression on Karma's face is simply sad, melancholic, upset.

"I'll be there...I have to...go somewhere," Nagisa starts to leave, but Yuui pulls her by her cloak.

"I don't think so, Nagisa-san," Yuui hums. "Come to the back, I'll fix you some more hot chocolate, then the kids will go talk to you."

"How old are you?" Nagisa asks quietly, trying not to think about the cause of her tears, the reason Karma knows about her mother, or anything at all.

"Thirty-two, sweetness," Yuui coaxes Nagisa through the Staff and Monkey door. Behind it is a staircase, wide and grand, and to the right is the large kitchen.

"Then you were seventeen when-"

"Yes, I was," Yuui smiles. "Karma-un, come through!"

"Huh?" Karma asks and Nagisa jumps. He's right behind her.

And suddenly she's crying again.

"Better get you into Chi's bed," Yuui makes a noise of concern, and guides her up the staircase. There's a corridor at the top, with rooms on the right and left. Yuui leads her through the furthest door to the right. "Here, honey. Stay here until Karma's party. I'll tell Jennette to pick you up."

"Jennette?" Nagisa murmurs, barely noting Chi's room. Her feet guide her to Chi's table and she sits, staring at her desk.

There's a picture on the table, of Chi and an unfamiliar male.

"That's Motosuwa Hideki," Yuui explains. "He's my little Chi's _boyfriend_."

"Eh?" Nagisa blinks, and her head snaps around to the picture, then Yuui. Then, shaking her head to clear it, she asks. "Who's Jennette?

"Karma's mother, of course," Yuui answers. "She's French-Japanese. Your Karma is quite some mix."

"Mix?"

"He's an eighth, right, Karma?"

"Yeah," Karma smiles brightly. "But I'd really like it if you left us alone."

"I know," Yuui ruffles Karma's hair, then leaves. "I gotta help the kids out~ Oh, and you can explore if you want, Karma-ebi. Bye bye!"

"Let's explore," Karma seizes Nagisa's hand and drags her out of the room, trying out all the doors.

Nagisa follows him, still stunned.

 _Karma knows...about her mother...  
_

 _That means, he knows what a_ terrible _child she is.  
_

"Here," Karma drags her into a room. "This is Syao-chan's room...I wonder what blackmail I can get~"

"That girl is cute," Nagisa says as soon as they enter the room. (Syaoran's room is simple, but homely, with a bed in one corner, tatami mats, a bureau, and a throw rug on the ground under a low table.

"What girl?" Karma asks, then notices all the pictures around the room. Most of them are of Syaoran and a girl about the same age as he, slim and only a little shorter than him. Her hair is brown, and cut in a bob, and she has beautiful green eyes. "Ah, yeah. Sakura. She's not as cute as you, though."

"No, she's really pretty," Nagisa points at another picture, probably the most recent one, with Syaoran, Chi, Yuui, Kuro, Sakura, and an two unfamiliar people who looks around Karma and Nagisa's age.

"Who are they?" Nagisa points to the person, who is as androgynous as Yuui.

One has pale blonde hair like Chi and Yuui and dark eyes like Syaoran and Kuro, with the delicate features that seem to be a trend in the family. Their smile is as big as Yuui's and they have their arms wrapped around Chi and their lookalike.

The person who looks almost exactly like the first stands at the side of the picture, only with dark hair instead of pale gold, and blue eyes instead of dark ones. They have their arms wrapped around their lighter lookalike, with a bright beam. They both have a single earring, dangling from their left and right ear respectively.

"Syaoran and Sakura have been friends forever," Karma points at Sakura. "The light one, that's Mokona. And the other one is Modoki. They're twins. Apparently Yuui cried when they were born. Then tried to name them both Mokona Modoki, 'cause it woulda been funny. Kuro-papa refused, though, so they became Mokona and Modoki. We mostly just refer to both of them as Mokona Modoki. They're really like Yuui-ma. The three of them drive Kuro-pipi insane."

"Where are they now?" Nagisa asks before she can stop herself. We're invading their privacy, she thinks.

"Studying overseas," Karma shrugs. "They'll be back for junior high."

"...ah," Nagisa says, then shakes her head. "We shouldn't be-"

"Sit here," Karma pulls Nagisa to the ground, on Syaoran's simple rug, on opposite sides of the table.

They stare at each other in silence.

"How long?" Nagisa asks. _How long have you know?_

"Who knows," Karma answers vaguely. _Like I'd tell you._

"Do you hate me now?" Nagisa whispers.

"Hate you?" Karma blinks, then stares at Nagisa. "Why would I hate you?"

"Because I don't listen to my mom," Nagisa looks away. "Because I'm a terrible child. Because I'm rude, mean, a bore, too ugly, stupid, crass, my voice is disgusting-"

"What the actual _hell_?" Nagisa winces at the strong words coming from Karma's mouth.

"It's Christmas, don't swear," Nagisa scolds.

"Who told you that?" Karma snarls.

"The mother, our classmates, back in primary four, and-"

"You're not," Karma says fiercely. "You're interesting to talk to all the time and you work hard and you're polite and beautiful and you have a pretty voice that sounds like clear and rings out like church bells and you're nice enough to stick with me and you're kind, so kind and-" Karma stops when he sees Nagisa's face. "What's wrong?"

Her expression must be terrible.

"No, the mother knows best," Nagisa says sadly. "And she says I'm disgusting."

Her hands reach up, brush the nearly faded scars on her face.

"Your mom did that, right? That woman?!" Karma whispers. He's angry, Nagisa notes with a twinge of fear. "She scratched up your face? Back when we were in year four?"

Nagisa looks away.

"That woman...!" Not saying anything else, Karma rises to his feet. Gasping, Nagisa grabs onto his arm, holding him from storming downstairs. He realised, what a horrid person she is. He's going away from her.

"Don't leave me now, please," Nagisa squeezes her eyes shut. "Don't go..."

"Hey, Nagisa," Karma forgets the honorific again. "Can I punch your mother?"

"What?" Nagisa blinks.

"Did you think I was gonna stop being your friend?" Karma asks seriously.

"No..."

"Don't go to my party," Karma shakes his head. "You're precious to me, so don't let your mother hurt you more."

"No..." Nagisa shakes her head. "I'll get punished whether I go or not...Karma, I'm going, and you can't stop me."

"Nagisa...chan," Karma sighs. "I won't be able to stop you, but please, cherish yourself more," Karma reaches out, about to touch her, then stops. "How long?"

"Huh?"

"How long has it been going on for?"

"...I can't remember," Nagisa says suddenly. Now that she thinks about it, had her mother always been like this?

"..." Karma passes a hand over his eyes, then wraps his arms around Nagisa, like she had to him, hours before.

And Nagisa cries.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

"Are you alright, sweetie?" Karma's mother asks, when Nagisa and Karma enter the car.

"Yes..." Nagisa plasters on a smile. "I'm fine."

The 'car' is actually a large limousine, big enough for Nagisa to do a cartwheel.

Not that she can actually do a cartwheel.

"Hey, wait for ussss~" the door is thrown open, and Chi flings herself in, Syaoran coming soon after. "Mama and papa are coming in too, so wait~!" Chi giggles, then sits next to Nagisa, putting her arm around her. "Nagisa, pat me!"

Nagisa does so, and Chi's hair feels like silk threads.

"You did it again," Karma says suddenly.

"Did what?" Nagisa blinks.

"Made your eyes not red, and not puffy," Karma shrugs.

Nagisa blinks, recalling a similar conversation back in primary four.

"Ah!" Nagisa touches her eyes.

"Do you know how because of your mother?" Karma asks.

"Not here," Nagisa runs her fingers through Chi's hair, then sighs.

"Mokona Modoki flew back today," Syaoran says, touching the car door. "Mama's getting them dressed."

"And getting dressed himself, huh?" Mrs. Akabane hums in amusement. "Better get him a new body suit. No one's going to believe that someone with breasts that small and a waist that thin had for children."

Nagisa's eye twitches.

"But mama didn't really give birth-" Syaoran starts, when Chi shushes him.

"But mama always dresses so nicely," Chi laughs, and purrs as Nagisa pats her head again. "I want to be like mama when I grow up. You know, he got a lot of confessions since he was young?"

"Why does Yuui-mama dress as a girl?" Nagisa asks.

"Because it's what he likes," Syaoran explains. "He likes girls clothes and he's very fashionable, but he doesn't have a female's figure so he wears body suits that are padded at the hips and breasts."

"Uh, right," Nagisa blinks, then Yuui and Kuro enter the car, with the twins from the picture behind them.

"Wow, you're kinda pretty!" The one with lighter hair calls. Mokona, right?

"She's not just pretty, she's really pretty!" The one with darker hair nods firmly. Modoki, she thinks.

"Shush, you nimrods," Kuro snarls, seating himself by the window.

"Aww, don't be such a puss, Kuro-pu-pu!" Yuui snickers, and slides into the seat next to Kuro, nuzzling into his arm.

"You're the cat, Mama," Mokona giggles.

"Meow meow!" Modoki agrees, and the twins fling themselves next to Karma.

"Eh?" Syaoran suddenly looks a little worried. "Meow?"

"Meow!" Mokona shouts.

"Meow!" Modoki agrees.

"Nyan, nyan, nyan!" Yuui giggles.

And the three of them all start mewling happily.

The trip is spent with lots of shouting from Kuro, with Mokona, Modoki and Yuui doing their best to annoy him. Chi curls up to Nagisa, like a cat, and demands her full attention while Karma bickers with his mother, Syaoran trying to calm them.

An...

Interesting trip.

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"That's it! I'm never doing that again!" Mrs Akabane storms out from the limousine, covered in champagne and oil, and Nagisa follows behind her, apologising for Karma.

"...really Mrs Akabane, I'm sure he didn't mean to-"

"How well do you know my son? He meant to, alright," Mrs Akabane growls, shaking flour from her hair. "Will! Your son is just...horrid!"

"He's your son too," Mr Akabane calls down the stairs.

"It's all Fai's fault!" Mrs Akabane fumes.

"What did I do?" Yuui protests.

"Gah!" Mrs Akabane actually stomps her foot. "Yuui, Fai, whatever! Gah, gah, gah!"

"You know you love us, Jen-Jen-obaa-chan," the twins chorus.

"Don't call me thatttt!" As Mrs Akabane disappears up the grand staircase, Mr Akabane descends it.

"Let's start the party preparations, then," he says mildly, as though his wife had not just stormed past him covered in food substances.

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By seven, the party is in full swing, most of the people from Karma and Nagisa's school down there laughing and mingling.

And Nagisa is in Karma's room, playing a game of bluff with Karma, Chi, Syaoran, the twins (who play together), Naruko, Chihiro and Meiko around the kotatsu.

And then the clock goes to seven thirty.

Automatically, Nagisa sets down her cards and stands, walking to the door, when Meiko grabs her skirt.

"Nacchan, where are you going?" Meiko asks.

Nagisa pauses.

 _Seven thirty..._

 _Her mother's party is at seven thirty..._

"Sorry," Nagisa turns and sits down by the kotatsu, sliding under it again and picking up her cards. "I...nothing, my apologies."

"Huh?" Naruko frowns. "Something wrong, Nacchan?"

"You know what happened?" Mokona says suddenly.

"See, Nacchan-" Modoki starts.

"ONLY _WE_ CAN CALL HER NACCHAN!" Naruko yells.

"Did you hear something, Mokona?" Modoki asks.

"Dunno, anyway, Nacchan was _possessed_!" Mokona grins.

"Yep, yep!" Dancing up to the light switch, Modoki flicks the lights off. "See, one night," a click sound, and then Mokona is shining a torchlight under his face, making him look scary.

"Nacchan ran into a zombie-"

" _Stoppu_!" The lights flicker on. Karma stands by the light switch, four cards in his hands. "Let me just win, then we can hear the rest of the story."

" _Win_?" Naruko frowns. "I don't think so!" She slaps down two cards. "Two aces!"

"Bluff," Karma rolls his eyes, sitting down. He slides under the kotatsu, and Nagisa feels a pair of feet settle down on her lap.

She gives Karma a tired look, and he just winks.

 _His limbs are too long_ , she thinks, and shakes her head.

"How did you know?!" Naruko yelps.

"Take the cards, Naruru," Meiko giggles.

"Cards, cards!" Chi calls cheerily.

"Karma's turn," Syaoran reminds them.

"Four aces," Karma puts down the four cards in his hands, then lies down, having won. "Go ahead, Mokona Modoki."

"What?! _How_?!" Naruko yells. "I had a strategy and everything!"

"Terribly sorry to ruin it," Karma hums, hiding his laughter behind his palm.

"Bluff, I call bluff," Naruko huffs.

The cards are not a bluff.

"Dang it!" Naruko fumes, throwing her arms in her air.

"Three twos," Nagisa sets down the three cards, then smiles at the twins. "Go ahead, I, too, wish to hear your take on why I suddenly walked."

"Alright!" Mokona skips to the lights, and switches them off, then Modoki shines a light under his face.

"So Nagisa runs into a zombie..."

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"I-I'm home..." Nagisa whispers.

It is ten.

Her mother's party should still be underway.

"Nagisa, sweetheart!" Nagisa flinches.

Her mother's voice has none of the genuine sweetness that Yuui's does.

"I'll deal with you later," Her mother says in a low voice, grabbing her elbow and dragging her into the living room.

Nagisa closes her eye.

Her heart hurts.

Why does her mother hurt her?

Yuui doesn't hurt the twins, Yuui doesn't hurt Syaoran or Chi.

Mrs Akabane and Karma clash often, but she will never lift a hand against him.

So why...?

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 _Junior High Year One:_

"You really want to go downtown?" Karma asks, running his fingers through Nagisa's hair. Nagisa is curled up under Karma's kotatsu, her head in the redhead's lap.\\\

It's twelve forty, on Christmas (and Karma's birthday) and all Nagisa can think is about practically nothing.

"Yes."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"We made it into Kunugigaoka, you don't want to study?"

"I've been studying the whole year..."

"Your mother let you out?"

"Yes..."

"The whole day?"

"She said she doesn't want to see my face..."

"...Wanna go out?"

"Now?"

"Only if you want," Karma separates her hair into two sections and braids it.

"Alright," Nagisa waits for him to finish, then lifts her head.

Karma stands, and offers Nagisa a hand.

"Are you alright?"

 _No._ "I don't know," Nagisa takes Karma's hand, and stands. "Where will we go?"

"Everywhere and nowhere," Karma answers vaguely, and leads her downstairs, where he helps her with her scarf and hat.

And the two leave, on Karma's bicycle.

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Even at one in the morning, Tokyo is buzzing with activity.

Karma leads Nagisa through the streets, pushing his bicycle, but ensuring that she has a hold on his jacket as he moves.

The people on the street point and whisper at and about them as they walk past, and Karma tells her to ignore them. Eventually, Nagisa stop recognising the place she's at, but the street is lit up with christmas lights, and it's beautiful and all Nagisa can think is...

Is, well, if her parents had ever gone to see this together.

 _And they never will anymore_ , she shuts her eyes, and stops walking.

"Are you tired, Nagisa-san?" Karma asks.

Nagisa jumps, then snaps open her eyes. Karma has stopped a few steps in front of her, the back of his jacket stretching as she grips it. "No, sorry. I...I just..."

"Your parents?" Karma asks.

"I..." Nagisa looks away. "Am I that obvious...?"

"Only to me," Karma gives her a cocksure smile. "Because you're my _Nadeshiko_ , right?"

"Silly," Nagisa gives him an unsteady smile, then begins to walk again. "Hiro-tan invited us to karaoke with Mei-chi and Naruru. I thought we'd maybe invite Syao-kun, Chi-chan and Mokona Modoki. And maybe Chi-chan and Syao-kun's friends."

"You mean Hideki and Sakura?" Karma frowns. "They'll be all couply, then."

"That's a no?" Nagisa mimics Karma's frowns, wondering about what Karma means. Hideki is obviously Chi's boyfriend, but Sakura... "It should be alright, Meiko's inviting the Jin-Jin she keeps talking about and Naruko's inviting a few of her junior high friends."

"It sounds like a mixer," Karma laughs.

"I suppose," Nagisa smiles a little, then speeds up, pressing her face into Karma's back. "But we're only thirteen."

"Yeah, yeah," Karma pats Nagisa, who moves away from him a little. After they've walked and walked much longer, Karma says. "We're almost there, I promise. Bear with me a bit longer, okay?"

"It's no problem. I like you a lot, and I'm happy that's you're still dealing with me," Nagisa says quietly.

"What was that?" Karma asks.

"Nothing," Nagisa follows him.

Karma leads her up a tall, steep staircase, somehow wheeling his bicycle up next to her. "This is a really nice place to look at Tokyo."

"Hmm?" Nagisa blinks, and hurries after Karma, nearly falling over several times before they reach the top. "What is it..." Her voice dies in her throat.

Karma leads her up to a park, with an overhanging area that looks over the the city.

"Uwah," She gasps, staring at it.

From here, Tokyo just looks like a blur of sparkling lights, a shimmering city in the dark desert of the night.

"It's beautiful," she whispers.

"Nice, right?" Karma sounds victorious as he guides her right up to the railing. "Isn't it wonderful?"

"Yes, yes," Nagisa nods enthusiastically.

The more she stares at the sparkling lights of the city, the less upset Nagisa feels. Slowly, she stretches her hand in front, reaching for Tokyo.

And she balls her hand into a fist, imagining she can take all her worries and places them in her palm, and then burn them, letting them join the shining lights of the city.

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"Karaoke?" Chi asks, wiping a cup. It's the early morning, just past eight, and the cafe has just opened.

"Yes," Nagisa offer her a smile.

"Wow, Chi's actually doing work," Karma comments.

"Syao-syao said I had to," Chi shrugs, and wipes another cup. "Business has been slow so far, so Syao-Syao and I are helping mama and papa."

"What's Mokona Modoki doing?" Karma asks, taking a cup from Chi and turning, throwing it to Syaoran. "Syao-chan! Buttermilk soda! And ice cream for Nadeshiko!"

"It's Nagisa," Nagisa sighs.

"Coming right up!" Syaoran catches the mug and disappears into the kitchen.

"Mokona Modoki are both cooking," Chi passes the cups through the window behind the counter, and Nagisa hears Modoki call a 'thank you!' through it.

"Papa and mama are sleeping in," Syaoran comes out through the 'Staff and Monkey' door, with a cup of frothing caramel coloured drink, and presents it to Karma, then passes Nagisa a bowl filled with seven-flavoured hokkaido soft ice cream. "If we kids take over the cafe, we get paid by hour. It's fun, too, so it's a win-win."

"So, how do you feel about karaoke?" Karma asks, for the second time.

"I'll ask Sakura to come, too," Syaoran hops onto one of the counter stools. "With the friends you had at your birthday party, right? The light head, the brunette, the inky black haired girls?"

"Yes," Nagisa takes a spoon and eats a little bit of the ice cream. It's delicious, as always.

"Hey, Nadeshiko-san," Syaoran speaks up.

"Yes?" She blinks up at him.

"You've been really lackluster the past few months. Did something happen?"

"..." Nagisa sets down her spoon, twisting one of her braids. "My parents..."

"Yes?" Syaoran looks concerned, as does Chi.

"They got divorced a couple of months ago," Nagisa looks away.

"Oh..." Chi mutters.

"I knew it was going to happen, but all the same," Nagisa closes her eyes. "I really...hoped that it wouldn't...!"

" 'If you continously wish for something, it will eventually come true,' " A pair of voices chime in from the window behind the counter. _Mokona and Modoki_. "That's what Yuko-san, the lady who houses us when we're overseas, says."

"But if you wish with negative feelings, it will reflect back on you," Syaoran finishes. "Right?"

Nagisa blinks, then smiles. "Then maybe I'll keep wishing that they'll get back together."

"Hnn," Chi frowns, then pats Nagisa's head. "I am unable to fully understand your pain, but I hope that you..."

"Don't worry, Chi-chan," Nagisa forces a smile on her face, trying not to think about her parents' fight, the shouting, the throwing of plates and glass, waking up one day to her father on the couch.

And her mother never told her anything, until her father asked to Nagisa to move out of the house with him.

And then...

The divorce.

"I have to use the bathroom," Nagisa stands, and walks as fast as she can.

"Wait, Nagisa, your ice cream!" Chi calls.

"You guys can have it," She calls over her shoulder, and nearly walks into the door of the toilet.

As soon as the door swings shut behind her, she grabs a few pieces of toilet paper, goes into a stall (the toilet in the cafe is actually really nice), puts down the seat top, sits on it, and just cries.

Her mother _hadn't_ told her about the divorce until her father asked Nagisa to move away with him.

But she hadn't.

Why hadn't she?

Nagisa lifts her shirt, and stares at the bruises and scars decorating her stomach, old scars and bruises, with new ones, too. If she looks at her back, she knows it would be even worse.

Tears pool from her eyes, slipping down her face and falling onto the ground and all Nagisa can think is _why?_ and _Why me?_

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"Cake for Karma," Nagisa smiling, offering Karma a box of cake and a plastic fork. " _Happy birsuday!"_ She places an envelope in Karma's pocket. "Birthday cards."

"Here?" Karma blinks. They're wandering around the streets of Tokyo (randomly holding hands, because it's crowded and Karma told Nagisa to) and Nagisa suddenly presents Karma with the cake.

"Eat as you walk," She shrugs.

"Are you really alright?" Karma asks as he takes the box and fork, realeasing Nagisa's hand.

 _...No_. "Do you know that I look like papa?" Nagisa says randomly.

"No, I thought you'd look like that woman, cause she's apparently really pretty," Karma shrugs.

"Oh, right, Mrs Akabane met the mother," Nagisa considers, then tilts her head. "Well, my personality is like papa's, but I look like both of them. So when I look in a mirror, I'm reminded of him that way."

 _My mother, too, is reminded of him. And she hates me because of that._

"That's nice," Karma eats a bit of the cake. "Ah, it's good."

"I bought it from that bakery down the street!" Nagisa pushes her fingers together. "I'm glad you liked it."

"Try some," Karma holds out a piece of cake on the end of a fork to Nagisa.

" _Thank you_ ," Nagisa opens her mouth and lets Karma feed her.

"It's been awhile since you've given me food," Karma observes.

"Has it?" Nagisa looks up at the sky. It's not snowing, but it's still very cold. "I suppose. Sorry, did you miss that?"

"A little," Karma tugs the end of Nagisa's braid. "But I don't want to bother you."

"I like knowing that you want to concern yourself with me," Nagisa admits. "Even if I'm..." _disgusting. Terrible. Disobedient. Rude._ "Different."

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It's five, and Nagisa and Karma are in a crowded karaoke room, with Naruko, Chihiro, Meiko, Chi, Syaoran, Mokona, Modoki, a girl who looks like Sakura, and a boy who looks like Hideki.

"So many people," Chihiro sighs, and calmly pulls out earphones and a book, shutting herself off.

"Ah, I remember you!" Meiko greets cheerfully, sticking her hand out to Mokona and Modoki. "You were both very pretty, but I didn't get your names."

"I'm Mokona!"

"And I'm Modoki!" The twins stick out their right and left hands respectively.

"Nice to meet you again!" Meiko giggles, and shakes their hands.

Everyone else seems to be getting along, too. Naruko is taking to Syaoran and the maybe-Sakura, Chi cuddling against Hideki and deciding which song to sing, and soon, the friends that Naruko and Meiko invited arrive, a mix of male and female.

"Wow, this really is like a mixer!" One of them laughs.

"But most of the girls are already taken," Another boy hums in amusement.

"Since you guys are late, you have to sing 'The Rolling Acorn'!" Karma calls, holding out the microphone to the group of boys.

"Hah?!" One boy scowls.

Out of the corner of her eyes, Nagisa sees Chihiro pull out an earbud, staring at the scowling boy.

"Natsume," She says with a sigh. "Figures.

"Hisakawa," The scowling boy, _Natsume?,_ rolls his eyes. "Figures."

"Jin-Jin!" Meiko leaps to her feet and throws her arms around one of the boys. "It's been forever~!"

"Jinta has a girlfriend!" One of the other boys shout.

"So?" Meiko sticks out her tongue at the boys. "I like Jin-Jin."

"Confession!" The room fills with screams.

Nagisa laughs and laughs, doubling over and clutching her stomach.

She doesn't see Karma's relieved expression.

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Nagisa returns home by seven, letting her mother puppet her around for yet another christmas party.

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 _Junior High Year Two:_

Nagisa takes a deep breath, and opens her mouth.

"Open the door," She coaxes herself, shifting the basket in her hands. "Or knock."

It's a relief to hear her voice, after the _Incident_ earlier that year.

"Are you alright, Nagisa-san?" Mr Akabane asks.

She stands outside Karma's room door, and Nagisa takes another deep breath. "I'm fine," She offers Mr Akabane a smile. "Tell Mrs Akabane thank you."

"For what?"

"Thank her for always tolerating me," Nagisa bows to Mr Akabane. "And the same to you."

"It's no problem," Mr Akabane pushes open the door to Karma's room. "In you go..."

Nagisa takes a deep breath _again_. "Hello, Karma-kun!"

"Hey, Karma greets, then his eye fall to her nose. "A nosewarmer? Seriously? What are you, a kid?"

"Whyever not?" Nagisa scrunches up her nose, and unhooks the nose warmer from her ears. _What's wrong with a nosewarmer?_ "I cannot afford to catch a cold, then my mother would _know_ I've been going out."

"Is that bad?" Karma asks.

Nagisa blinks, then laughs. "Apparently cold air is very bad for the skin. So I have to sneak out during the winter. Still, nosewarmers are amazing," Nagisa waves hers at Karma. "You should try one!"

"Alright, maybe one day," Karma shrugs, and Nagisa offers him a smile. "Come in and sit down!" Karma shoves a batch of his belongings off his bed, creating a gap for Nagisa to sit.

Nagisa gives Karma a _look_ wondering what he means by messing up the area around his bed again. "You should clean your bed," Nagisa unwraps her muffler (that she had finally learnt how to use) something Karma had bought her when they had been shopping at the beginning of this year, then peels off her thick winter coat, something else Karma had bought her that turned out to be useful, then takes off her coat, mittens, earmuffs and hat. Shaking out the snow from her clothes, Nagisa runs a hand through her hair. Picking up the basket full of presents for Karma, Nagisa sets them onto of the kotatsu. Seeing a note from Karma's mother on it, she takes care not to cover it with the basket. "You have a kotatsu," Nagisa stares at it, recalling her previous times curling under it. "Must be nice during winter..."

"You can come over whenever you want to use it," Karma invites, and Nagisa shakes her head, moving to his bed. His items are all cluttered on the ground, strewed everywhere. Really, Karma is lucky that his flow is cushioned, or most of his belongings would have been broken by now.

"Jeez," Nagisa crouches down, and picks up the scattered objects, sorting them. "Books, books, random object," She stares at the strange object in confusion, before picking up a casing. "Game, DS-"

"Oh! I was looking for that!" Karma takes it from her, probably going to playing the game.

"Books, books, books, more books," Nagisa glances up at Karma, staring at him in confusion mixed with skepticism and slight bemusement. "Why so many books?"

"Why not?" Karma pushes some of his items around his bed, looking confused.

 _Probably looking for his cartridge,_ Nagisa thinks, looking at the DS on his lap. Picking it up from the floor, Nagisa peers at the cartridge, deems it interesting enough, then presses it into Karma's hand, continuing to sort through everything.

"Thanks, Nagisa," Karma says, his voice sounding a little wobbly.

"No problem, Karma-kun," Nagisa picks up the stack of books she'd gathered from the ground around Karma's bed. Walking to his bookshelf, she sorts through the titles. "Of course, I will have to take you up on the kotatsu offer, it seems too good a chance to pass on."

Karma doesn't reply, and Nagisa slots in her last book, returning to the area around Karma's bed and picking up strange keychains, playing cards, games, and so on, clearing them from the ground, then moves on to Karma's bed. Gathering a whole collection of cartridge cases, Nagisa stands and walks to the drawer where Karma keeps all of them.

"Oh, that's right," Karma says suddenly. "Nagisa, look at me."

"Hmm?" Nagisa glances up, wondering why Karma had asked her such a strange thing. She blinks a few times, then smiles at Karma in confusion.

 _Oh! She hadn't wished him happy birthday yet!_

"Oh, right," Nagisa stands, shutting the drawing and taking quick steps across the room, flinging her arms around Karma.

In her embrace, Karma freezes.

Finally, he wraps his arms around her, pulling her closer.

"You're always too warm," Nagisa murmurs.

And he is, Karma is always radiating warmth, and Nagisa is always radiating cold.

"Was...that weird?" Nagisa asks haltingly, pulling away from Karma and taking a small step back. "Meiko-san said that you would be happy if I hugged you."

"Meiko?" Karma stares at her blankly.

"Meiko from primary four," Nagisa tilts her head. Karma _knows_ which Meiko she's talking about. They've hung out as a group a number of times, also with Meiko's Jin-Jin and the Natsume who didn't really like Chihiro. "Meiko-san was the pretty one."

"I'm honestly just surprised that you still kept in contact," Karma looks away. _But you_ knew _,_ Nagisa thinks, confused. Karma sighs. "Can I tell you something?"

"If you wish," Nagisa smiles, and stays in front of Karma.

He stares at her.

Then, Karma reaches out and takes a lock of Nagisa's hair between his fingers, twisting it around his finger. Nagisa's heartbeat slowly calms down, and sh efeels a little flustered.

"Well, I like you," Karma meets her eyes.

Nagisa blinks. _Huh?_ "And I like Karma-kun too," She reminds him gently, smiling.

"You can drop the -kun," Karma tells her, and sighs. He looks so sad, Nagisa can help but reach out, and grabs the sigh Karma had just released.

"Please do not sigh, Karma-ku..." _Drop the -kun_ , "Karma. Every time you sigh, a piece of happiness escapes," Nagisa presses her closed fist against Karma's chest.

"You believe that?" Karma asks skeptically, lifting his brows.

"Of course," Nagisa smiles, and opens her hand, pressing it against Karma's chest. "I will give it back to you, now."

Karma blushes, strangely, and brings his hand up to cover his mouth.

"I like you romantically," He blurts.

 _Huh?_ Nagisa's eyes widen.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

 **BECAUSE I AM EVIL THERE WILL BE A PART THREE**

 **REMEMBER I SAID I WOULDN'T CONTINUE THE CONFESSION?**

 **I CHANGED MY MIND, NURUFUFUFUFUFUFUFU**

 **HOPEFULLY OUT BY TOMORROW**

 **GOOD NIGHT**

 **HAPPY NEW YEAR/NEW YEARS EVE *whooop***

 **(Review replies the next chapter :3)**

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 ** _Part Three:_**

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 **Quick uh, announcement!  
**

 **I'll be putting all the christmas specials together, in one chapter, a week from now!**

 **And also:**

 **I'm sure you don't want or need an authors note here, so let's jump right into it~**

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"E-E-EH?!" Nagisa exclaims, snapping her head from left to right. Karma _couldn't_ be talking to _her_ , right? She feels a tug on her scalp and realises that the hair that had been curled around Karma's finger had dislodged itself. "A-Are you talking to m-me?" She asks hesitantly, lifting a shaking finger to point at herself.

"Well, do you see someone else?" Karma lets out a small laugh, and for some reason, Nagisa's heart feels like it's being wrung. _Is this a joke?_ She peers into Karma's eyes.

They're dead serious.

 _He's_ dead serious.

"E-EH?!" Nagisa takes a giant step back, her back hitting the door, Chihiro's words coming to her head. _If a guy confesses, he always kisses the girl. How typical_ , had been what she'd said, as she and Nagisa watches a guy confess to Naruko.

 _Even if she hasn't said anything?_ Nagisa had asked.

 _Especially yes,_ Chihiro had sighed. _In the rare moments it doesn't happen, it's, well, a miracle._

"You don't need to go so far," Resting his chin on his palm, Karma offers Nagisa a smile. A smile that looks painful. "I'm not going to do anything to you."

"B-But C-Chihiro-san said that boys always kiss girls after they confess," Nagisa mumbles, remembering that day, when Naruko had punched the boy for trying to kiss her. "Since Chihiro-san is very smart, I t-thought..." _Why is she calling Chihiro Chihiro-san? Nagisa normally calls her Hiro-_

"I'm in lo-like with you, Nagisa," _Had he been about to say love?_ Nagisa stares wide-eyed at Karma. "I wouldn't do anything that would make you uncomfortable."

"O-Oh," The tension in Nagisa's shoulders slowly loosen. _Karma knows her well, he...he wouldn't..._ "...How long...?" She asks quietly. _This_ she really wants to know.

"Since we were twelve," Karma shrugs mindlessly.

 _He's lying_ , Nagisa thinks, looking at Karma's red cheek, and the way he flicks his ear right after he says that. _Well, he must have a reason._

"Then why only now...?" Nagisa's voice goes softer as she recalls the _Incident_ earlier that year. She touches her throat. "Is it because of the Incident?"

"No, it's 'cause I remember you said once that for people to date, both parties should be at least thirteen," Karma stands, and Nagisa immediately backs even more into the door, and promptly regrets it. _He_ said _he wouldn't_ do _anything!_ She scolds herself. Mostly, she's more amazed that he still remembers what she said when she had been, what, ten? "But last year, you didn't seem ready for a relationship at all, and I admit that I wasn't either."

 _He was being considerate of me_ , Nagisa thinks, and toys with her fingers. Neither of them say anything, then Karma finally speaks.

"Well, you don't have to give an answer right now, you just have to give it to me by today," Karma makes his way to where Nagisa had put her belongings, picking them up. "Eleven fifty-nine's your deadline."

 _Eh?_

"Huh?" Nagisa asks blankly. "But I will need time alone to think."

"Then take time along," Karma walks to her, stopping a few feet away from her, holding her belongings out to her.

"But it's your birthday," Nagisa blurts out, frowning. Realising what she had said, she flushes and takes her belongings, hiding her face with it. Because, well, she had really meant _'I don't want to spend christmas alone at home with the mother breathing down my door_. "And Christmas. I want to spend it with you."

"Well, it's not like these are once-in-a-lifetime chances," Karma points out, and starts to reach out with his hand, then stops. "I'll have another birthday next year, and Christmas will be there too. I mean, it's not like we're going to stop being friends after this, right?" Nagisa nods. She'd _hate_ that. "So just go and think, 'k?"

Nagisa stares at Karma. He's annoyed, she can tell, most likely at himself. He looks tired, too. It would be better if she leaves now. Slowly, Nagisa nods again. "Alright...I'll give your your answer before the day is over! Then, we can spend the rest of the day together," Nagisa beams, and manages to pull on her winter clothes as she speaks. "See you, Karma!" She forces herself to act happy, forces it for Karma's sake. "Remember to enjoy Christmas, alright?" She's out of the door and waving by the time Karma replies.

"Sure!" He calls as she rushes out of the room.

 _Oh goodness, goodness, oh gosh, ohgoshohgoshohgosh_

 _Karma confessed to her?!_

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"AKABANE DID _WHAT_?!" Naruko roars angrily, and Nagisa, as well as most of the people around them, flinches away from Naruko. "I'LL **** AND ****** THAT GUY UNTIL HE'S HALF DEAD!"

And _maybe_ Nagisa should have broken the news to her friendswhen they had been in a more...isolated area.

"Why?" Chihiro asks calmly, flipping through the pages of her book.

"Why _what_?" Naruko blinks cluelessly at Chihiro, then, the clueless expression slides off her face. "Oh, because if I actually kill him-"

"You will be unable to half-kill Karma-dono even if you tried," Chihiro interrupts, causing Naruko to fume. "I meant, why would you do that to Karma-dono?"

"Why?" Naruko gives Chihiro a look of utter exasperation. "Because he _asked Nacchan out!_ "

"And shouldn't you be happy?" Chihiro sighs, and pushes her glasses up her nose bridge, shutting her book.

"Isn't it great, Nacchan?" Meiko hums, grabbing Nagisa's hands and squeezing. "Karma likes you! Ah, Meiko is so happy for you~"

Nagisa's answer to her is a lackluster shrug.

"Meicchi, do not refer to yourself in third person," Chihiro reminds the light headed girl, then turns to Naruko. "And do not shout when we are in public. It is extremely rude and unbecoming."

"What did you say, Nacchan?" Meiko asks excitedly, ignoring Chihiro. "You said yes, right?"

"She said YES?!" Naruko yells, looking upset. "YOU BETTER NOT HAVE-"

" _Stoppu,"_ Chihiro calls in English, holding her hands out in a 'time out' gesture. Meiko and Naruko both turn to the dark haired girl, looking interested in what she is going to say."Firstly, Nacchan has not responded, as is obvious from her way of telling the story. Secondly, Nacchan doesn't seem to know what to respond with, judging from her bewildered expression and confused tone. Lastly, Naruko, if you shout _one more time_..."

"O-Okay..." Naruko stammers as a dark aura seems to seep from Chihiro.

"Thank you," Nagisa offers Chihiro a smile.

"And that is the first time you have smiled in the thirty minutes we have been wondering around town," Chihiro notes. "That's good."

"What's the problem, though?" Naruko asks. "Just, like, answer his confession."

"But I do not know what to say," Nagisa looks at the ground. After she had returned home from Karma's house, she hadn't been able to sleep, pondering over what to answer Karma with. "Besides, I do not know if I truly like Karma-kun...Karma that way, so I cannot answer him."

"Just answer," Naruko stomps her foot impatiently. "Seriously."

"But I cannot give him a half-baked answer!" Nagisa answers fiercely. "He had been so earnest...I simply cannot just reply based on a whim..."

"I don't understand," Naruko grumbles.

"That is because you are a terrible romantic," Chihiro says, and Naruko flinches. "As well as an insensitive," Naruko flinches again. "Animal," And again. "In the body of a beautiful," Another flinch. "Young, teenaged girl."

"O-Ouch," Naruko mumbles.

"Do you understand, what Nacchan means, Meicchi?" Chihiro asks.

Meiko nods. "Yes! It's so sweet! Meiko wants to have a romance like that when she grows up a bit more."

"Didn't you like your Jin-jin?" Naruko grumbles, looking embarrassed.

"Yes, but Jin-Jin says he's not ready," Meiko confides. "And Meiko's not old enough to date, anyway. Jin-Jin says we'll see if we both still feel the same way after we enter high school, then we can maybe date and stuff."

"Focus," Chihiro chides gently.

"Why?" Naruko crosses her arms. "We don't have to focus. The whole thing...it's simple. Do you like him, or not?"

Nagisa opens her mouth, then closes it. _If it were that simple, I'd have answered him on the spot,_ she thinks bitterly.

"If you like him back, say yes, if you don't, say no," Naruko sighs, and flings her hair over one shoulder. "Seriously." To the straightforward Naruko, Nagisa probably seems really silly now.

Nagisa scuffs her shoe against the hard, cement ground. "It is not that easy...I do not understand my own self as well as you do your own, Naruko."

"Rest assured," Chihiro puts her arm around Nagisa, hugging her to her side. "Karma-dono will forgive any answer you give. Do not feel pressured to say 'yes' simply because you are worried he will no longer be your friend."

"I know," Nagisa looks up at Chihiro. "The fact is; that makes the situation worse."

"I see," Chihiro wraps her other arm around Nagisa as well, patting her head. Chihiro had shot up so much the past year, Nagisa's head is only at her shoulder. "You will have to live, knowing that Karma-dono is in lo...like with you, if you say no. How terrible."

"Thinking about a situation like that hurts," Nagisa whispers, pressing her face into Chihiro's shoulder. She imagines if she refuses. She'll be in the same class as Karma again, definitely, and they'll be friends. However, Nagisa will never be able to touch Karma again, afraid that she may hurt him.

"But, Meiko doesn't understand," Meiko suddenly says, and Nagisa lifts her head. "If Nacchan is worried that Karma-kun doesn't like her very much, he does! Meiko used to see that Karma-kun really, really, _really_ likes Nacchan! He's super nice to you, Nacchan, and he never ever bullies you, and he always takes you into consideration before he does anything, and he's allllllllllways helping you, Nacchan!"

Nagisa presses her face into Chihiro's shoulder again.

"I know," She says, her voice muffled by Chihiro's shirt.

"And Nacchan...Meiko doesn't understand why Nacchan is so upset! Doesn't Nacchan like Karma-kun too?" As Meiko utters those words, Nagisa lifts her head in surprise, staring at Meiko.

"Eh?" Nagisa whispers.

"What do you mean, 'Eh?'?! You mean, you didn't notice?" Naruko splutters. "Like at _all_? You two act so lovey-dovey...ugh, maybe if I had protected you instead of Meicchi in primary school-"

"Karma-dono still would have liked her," Chihiro interrupts. "He likes Nacchan's personality, not the fact that she's your precious friend, Naruko."

"But, I...I like Karma?" Even though her eyes are probably wider than saucers, and she feels numb, Nagisa still opens her mouth, still asks.

"Yes!" Meiko stares at Nagisa in surprise. "Nacchan, you didn't notice? Meiko...Meiko has watched you two ever since we were all ten! Nacchan...Nacchan is always smiling...when she's with Karma-kun!"

Nagisa's whole world seems to shine, as she realises it for the first time.

"That is the reason why you're so agitated," Chihiro explains. "You like him, and that is why you are worried."

"I do not comprehend," Nagisa whispers, closing her eyes.

Is this why her heartbeat calms when she's around Karma?

Is this why he's the only person she allows to play with her hair?

Is this why she's always happy when she is patted on the head by him?

Is this why she always smiles when she hears his voice?

Is this why she actively seeks him out?

Is this...is this why...why she told him about her mother?

"You do," Chihiro releases Nagisa, and pats her on the back. "You understand, don't you?"

Nagisa takes a deep breath, then opens her eyes. "I need to go somewhere."

"Very well," Chihiro smiles, and seems pleased.

"Will you come with me?" Nagisa asks, her head snapping around to the three of them.

"Nacchan, no! That will ruin the mood!" Meiko scolds.

"I'm up for that!" Naruko cheers.

"No, I just wish to talk to some of Karma and my friends," Nagisa says shakily.

"There's something I have to ask them..."

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"NAGISA'S DATING KARMA!" Chi shouts. "MAMA! MAMA! IT HAPPENED~" She lets out a giant squeal, then dances around the cafe.

Nagisa stares at Chi in shock. She hadn't expected Chi to react so strongly when she had told her that Karma confessed. Behind her, she can practiaclly see the stunned faces of her friends.

"AH, MY _SHIP!_ MY _SHIP,_ MY _SHIIIIIPPPP!_ " Chi all but sings, doing a strange hoping-and-stepping routine.

"Chi, cater to the customers!" Syaoran scolds for the upteenth time. "Seriously!"

"But O, to the M, to the GEEEEEE-EEEE-EEEEEEE!" Chi lets out another squeal, and grabs a tray, dancing around to the tables and placing the orders to surprised patrons.

"I apologies," Syaoran says sheepishly to Nagisa, Meiko, Naruko and Chihiro. "I would say she isn't typically like this, but..."

"I see," Chihiro flicks her glasses up her nosebridge, then walks up to the counter, taking a seat. "So, these are your friends. I see."

"She adapted fast," Syaoran observes, then gestures for Nagisa to sit. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"She's...dancing..." Naruko says quietly, and Nagisa turns to see the normally loud and explosive brunette at a loss for words, with her jaw hanging open.

"With...a tray..." Meiko agrees, just as quiet. "With...drinks..."

"What...in the world," Naruko whispers.

"...I feel bad for them," Syaoran sighs. "CHI!"

"LET ME HAVE MY FUN, SYAO-SYAO!" Chi yells, placing a plate on the table. "MAMA, MAMA! ARE YOU HEARING THIS?"

"How can I not hear you, little Chi?" Nagisa hears Meiko and Naruko scream as Yuui's face appears at the window behind the counter. "I was napping, you know."

"IS PAPA AWAKE?!" Chi shouts.

"Chi, sweetie, inside voice," Yuui coaxes gently.

"Is papa awake?" Chi asks, softer.

"No, Chi, honey, your papa's tired," Yuui sighs. "Please be a little quieter."

"I can't," Chi says obstinately.

"Chi has officially gone off her rocker!"

"I'm filming this, and sending this to Hideki!" A pair of faces appear at either side of Yuui, one with light eyes and dark hair, the other with dark eyes and light hair. The one with light hair, Mokona, is holding a phone, recording Chi as she giggles and dances to herself.

"There are two of them..." Naruko whispers.

"Duh, we're twins!" Mokona and Modoki chorus in unison.

"GYA! THEY SPEAK!" Meiko squeals.

"She's pretty, but silly," Mokona sighs.

"Why can't all girls be like Nagisa?" Modoki passes a hand over his forehead, taking over recording durty. "Smart _and_ pretty."

"Oh! That one looks like a teacher!" Mokona gasps, pointing at Chihiro.

"She might _actually be a teacher!_ " Yuui gasps too, holding his hands over his mouth. Then, laughing, he calls to Chi. "Sweet Chi, what's going on?"

"You see," Chi whirls around, taking fast steps to the counter. "While I had been here, serving food diligently-"

Mokona Modoki snort in unison.

"Nagisa walks in, and tells me that _KARMA CONFESSED TO HER_!" Chi let's out a ear-piercing screech as she finishes her explanation.

"Cover your ears and hunker down," Syaoran sighs.

Chihiro, Meiko and Naruko immediately do so, but Nagisa is a little slow, and hears a giant shriek.

And Yuui (Who is thankfully wearing his body suit, although he is in a nightgown) flings open the 'Staff and Monkeys' door and dashes to Chi, grabbing his daughter's arms and squealing. Chi, in turn, grabs her mama's arms and the two hop up and down happily, laughing and squealing and giggling and...well, communicating through shrieks.

"Uh..." Nagisa starts, when the 'Staff and Monkeys' door is thrown open once again, Kuro rushing out in his sleepwear, looking worried and fierce as he snaps into a martial arts stance.

"Fai? I heard you scream-" Kuro pauses as he takes in the scene in front of him, then lets out a deep sigh, switching out of his stance.

"Kuro-puu!" Yuui beams, and he and Chi hold out their arms to Kuro. "Join us!"

Nagisa sees Kuro hesitate, then cautiously move to Yuui, pulling the shorter man away from Chi and checking him over. After deeming that Yuui is in perfect health, Kuro let out a growl, gave his...wife? Husband? Spouse?...a light clip on the head, before turning and heading back through the door.

"Papa is so Tsun!" Chi giggles.

"Isn't your papa so cute?" Yuui beams, then grabs Chi's arms again. The two of them continue their weird... _dance_ , now chanting 'Karma asked Nagisa out, Karma asked Nagisa out~'.

"Is this normal?" Naruko asks Syaoran.

"No, not really," Syaoran sighs.

"STOP!" Mokona screeches suddenly.

"WAIT A MINUTE!" Modoki yelps in an exact same tone.

"Karma-"

"-asked-"

"-Nagisa-"

"-out?" The twins ask.

"YES!" Yuui and Chi chorus.

And suddenly Yuui and Chi are joined by Mokona and Modoki, and Nagisa has never felt so exasperated.

She can see weirded out expressions on some of the other customers faces, and some of the customers also look amused, some annoyed, angered, some look used to this, some are a mix of all.

"Mama, Chi, Mokona Modoki!" Syaoran calls, over and over, but they don't react, just carry on.

Finally, Nagisa clears her throat. "Shout," She suggests.

Syaoran doesn't have to.

Kuro shoves the 'Staff and Monkeys' door open with his shoulder and yells. "Stop it! You're scaring the customers and being annoying! Also, Fai, fix your nightgown!"

"Oopsies!" Yuui says cheerily, fixing the sleeve of his nightgown, that had fallen down his shoulder.

"Either get back into bed or start work," Kuro grumbles.

"Aww, sorry~" Yuui hums, beaming at Kuro. "Can Kuro-tan not sleep without me? Is the bed too cold with me gone?"

Kuro gives Yuui an exasperated expression, then disappears back into the room behind the 'Staff and Monkeys' door, probably going back to sleep.

"Alrighty~ Update me when you get more details, sweet Chi~!" Yuui waves at Nagisa and her friends, then disappears up the stairs.

"That was fun!" Chi says enthusiastically, skipping back to the counter.

" _..._ _That's_ what you call fun?" Naruko splutters.

"Well, yeah?" Chi blinks, confused, then turns to the twins. "Mokona Modoki, get back into the kitchen."

"Okey dokie!" Mokona and Modoki disappear into the kitchen.

"It's normal," Syaoran repeats the words he had said before. "Chi is a little strange."

"Aww, Syao-Syao is being so kind~!" Chi hums.

"Take _this_ ," Syaoran dumps a heavy tray into Chi's arms. "To tables five, eight, nine, and thirteen, and _this_ ," Syaoran dumps another tray. "To tables twelve, twenty-four, nineteen and seventeen."

"E-EH?!" Chi stomps her foot, and almost knocks over a tray.

"Meiko will help!" Meiko volunteers, and takes one tray from the older girl. "Uh...which tables again?"

"Twelve, twenty-four, nineteen and seven," Syaoran repeats, and picks up a tray of his own. "I know you have something that you want to talk to us about, Nagisa, but please wait a little."

"Yes..." Nagisa looks at the ground.

"Aren't you already going to say yes?" Naruko complains. "Why do you have to ask more?"

"Because I'm worried about something," Nagisa twiddles her thumbs. "But I don't know what it is, but if Chihiro couldn't tell me, I thought that Syao-kun could."

"Huh," Naruko blinks, then turns to Chihiro. "Hey, Hiro-tan, why can't you-" Seeing Chihiro, hunched over a notebook, a textbook spread over the counter as she rapidly takes notes, Naruko falls silent.

"Sorry for making you wait with me," Nagisa mumbles.

"Idiot," Naruko swats the back of Nagisa's head. "We're your _friends_. We won't _mind_."

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"What was it you wanted to talk about, then?" Syaoran asks.

It's well into the afternoon now, and Yuui and Kuro have finally woken up, allowing Mokona and Modoki to take over serving, and giving Chi and Syaoran a break to talk to Nagisa over the counter.

Chihiro's immersed in her homework, and Meiko is having fun being a waitress. Naruko has fallen asleep after trying to see how many teaspoons she can balance on her nose without them falling off.

"Is it about Karma?" Chi asks. "If you don't know how to romance, I can teach you!"

"I did not say yes," Nagisa tells them awkwardly.

"YOU SAID NO?!" Chi gasps, and sways like she's about to faint.

"No! I did not give an answer!" Nagisa says frantically, before Chi can pass out.

"Oh, thank goodness," Chi brings her hand to her forehead. "For a second I thought that my ship sank..."

"What ship?" Syaoran asks, sighing, before turning to Nagisa. "So what's bothering you, Nadeshiko-san?"

"I like Karma," Nagisa says, but she feels like she's actually asking a question.

"I would think so," Syaoran considers. "You're one of the few people he trusts completely, and you're very tolerant of his pranks and you even sometimes improve them. Nadeshiko-san, you smile whenever you're with him, and you always seem happier when Karma's around. I would _think_ you like him."

"Do I like him _r_ _omantically?_ " Nagisa asks.

"Does your body react when your with him?" Syaoran tilts his head as Nagisa nods uncertainly. "If you're not sure...do you love Chi and I?"

"I love you both," Nagisa nods. "As friends."

"Then compare the feeling of what you feel for Chi and I to the feeling you feel for Karma," Syaoran waits for her to think. And Nagisa thinks, squeezing her eyes shut. "Are they the same?"

"They are not the same," Nagisa looks away, snapping her eyes open. "The feeling is different."

"Is it deeper for Karma?" Syaoran asks.

"...Yes," She whispers.

"You're still worried," Chi observes. "Why? You like Karma, Karma likes you."

"I do not know," Nagisa mumbles, tugging at her hair. "But...why does Karma like me? I am so... _me._ "

"I see," Syaoran slides a cup of ice cream too Nagisa, the flavour Karma would normally get for her. Unbidden, her heart squeezes, missing Karma. "I know what you're worried about now." Nagisa picks up the ice cream spoon, and waits for him to elaborate. "You _really_ like Karma. You might even love him."

"I am only fourteen," Nagisa mumbles.

"Love is _looooove_ ," Chi sings.

"Chi gets like that a lot," Syaoran gives his sister a _look_ , and she giggles. "Anyway, because you like Karma so much, you're worried that your levels of affections will be too different. You...Nadeshiko-san, you're very insecure. _No selfu-confidensu._ You see yourself as boring and uninteresting and incompetent, therefore; a burden, I've noticed that recently."

"But...am I not?" Nagisa grips her skirt. "Why does...why does Karma like someone as useless...someone as hopeless...someone as _boring_...someone like...me...?"

"You're not a burden, you're not useless, hopeless, and you're _certainly_ not _boring,_ " Chi reassures her. "And of _course_ Karma would like you! You're cute and smart and lovely and kind and just plain wonderful!"

"But everyone's saying that i'll be going to the E Class next year," Nagisa whispers.

"Huh?" Chi and Syaoran ask, seeming not to hear her.

"It's nothing," Nagisa gives them a watery smile. "But I am very incompetent..."

"No, you're _not!_ " Chi protests. "You're cute and smart and lovely and kind and just wonderful! Okay?! Anyway, those feelings of being a 'burden' just intensify 'cause Karma's always taking care of you! And he also scolds you sometimes, right?"

"A little," Nagisa nods. "I'm always causing him trouble...I'm such a dead-weight..."

"You're not. Karma would not scold someone he finds troublesome," As Syaoran speaks, Nagisa stares at him, her eyes wide. "He would have long dropped you if he found you uninteresting, too boring, or a burden. If he scolds you, it means he wants you to get better. Karma is not kind. He will not help someone out of the goodness of his heart. He only helps people he likes."

"And, besiiiiiiiideeees," Chi smiles, taking Nagisa's hands. "You're also scared because you're only fourteen, right? And everyone's always saying that first loves don't last?"

"...Yes," Nagisa admits.

"It will last," Chi says confidently. "If it's the two of you, you'll make it...because Karma, he's...he's the 'someone just for you'. And to him...you're also the 'someone just for him'. So, stop being scared. Karma lokes you, and you loke him."

"Loke?" Nagisa asks, puzzled. "Does it have a similar meaning to look?"

"She made it up," Syaoran sighs.

"It means 'like' and 'love'!" Chi beams.

"It's alright to be scared, though," Syaoran voices. "If you're scared, it means that you care a lot about that person and don't want to lose them. Imagine how scared Karma must have felt when he confessed to you..." Nagisa makes a noise of surprise. She hadn't thought of that. "If you're still worried, I can ask mama and papa to speak to you," Syaoran offers apologetically. "They're...they're better than we are at words. I hope we helped you get more confident..."

"You helped very much. No, that is alright," Nagisa say slowly. And it is alright. Like she had thought, Syaoran and Chi have helped her. They're amazing. "I think I get it."

"Are you going to say no?" Chi asks worriedly.

"No," Nagisa answers, thinking.

"Are you going to say yes?" Syaoran smiles.

Nagisa looks at the floor. She thinks of everything Karma has done for her. She wonders when she fell in...loke.

She wonders how Karma felt when she couldn't respond.

She wonders how long it took him to build up the courage to confess to her.

She closes her eyes.

Whenever she had fallen in loke with Karma, it doesn't matter. The fact is...she likes him.

A lot.

Maybe even loves him.

"...Yes," She whispers.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

It's five in the evening.

And

Naruko, Chihiro and Meiko finally send Nagisa off, outside of Karma's house.

"That brat really _is_ rich," Naruko grumbles as Chihiro, Meiko and her walk off.

"Bye bee, Nacchan!" Meiko calls, waving.

"Nacchan, _fighto_!" Chihiro agrees, giving Nagisa a small wave.

Nagisa waves until the three girls are out of sight, then takes a deep breath, and presses the buzzer of the intercom.

It only takes a second for the intercom to buzz with sound.

"Nagisa-chhhhaaaannn!" A familar voice coos. _Mrs Akabane._

"Eh, why are you at the intercom, hag?" Another voice says. _Karma._ "Go and do old lady things."

And before Nagisa knows it, they're both arguing.

"Karma, could you come out?" Nagisa asks.

The two voices fall silent.

"Sure," Karma says eventually. "Why, though?"

"You are smart," Nagisa tugs on her hair. "I think you know."

"...I see," and the buzzing of the intercom fades as the gates of the estate swing open.

Nagisa steps onto the driveway, and waits for the gates to swing shut behind her. The mansion the Akabane's own is quite big, and Nagisa walks around to the back of the compound, where there's a garden.

"This is so cliche," She mutters to herself, as she wonders about the garden, looking over all around. There are beautiful flowers, paved paths, and a gazebo in the middle of the garden. Perfect for a confession.

"What is?" Someone calls, causing her to jump.

Nagisa turns, and sees Karma half-hanging out of the second story window.

"Be careful!" She shouts, hoping Karma won't fall.

"What's cliche?" He asks, waving off her concern.

"...The garden is very cliche...or something," Nagisa shrugs, scuffing her shoe on the paved path.

"Hnn," Karma considers this, then gestures to himself, leaning out of the window. "Less cliche with me up here, right?

"I suppose," Nagisa lets out a small laugh when Karma makes a face.

"If I fall out of the window, you'll be sorry," Karma sighs dramatically. "The things I do for you, Nagisa."

Staring at Karma, Nagisa opens and closes her mouth a few times before she actually speaks. "Um...I will be..."

"Will be what?" Karma asks, sounding confused.

"Sorry," Nagisa covers her mouth with her hands. "If you fall out of the window...I'll...be sorry..."

"Don'cha mean sad?" Karma teases.

Nagisa nods furiously, training her eyes on the side of the building. "In addition...um...thank you..."

"For what?"

"Um..." Nagisa squeezes her eyes shut. "Thank you...for always looking out for me."

"Is this a rejection?" Karma asks.

Nagisa eyes snap open, and she stares at Karma, horrified.

"So, I'm right?" He asks. Karma still wears his smile, but Nagisa sees the sadness in his eyes.

"No, no!" Nagisa manages to shout, her hands still covering her mouth. "I...I like... _Ilikeyou_..." Her voice goes soft towards the end.

"I can't hear you," Karma calls down to her. Her face is probably all red. She feels so nervous, and almost wishes she can digest the butterflies in her stomach. Her heart is pounding, so, so _loud_.

And she's frightened.

 _Imagine how scared Karma must have been when he finally confessed to you..._

Nagisa squeezes her eyes shut again, takes a deep breath, then shouts it.

"I like you!"

Only silence meets her confession.

Slowly, Nagisa opens her eyes, and looks up.

Karma's expression is...

Completely shocked.

He stares at her in amazement, and then opens and closes his mouth.

"Is that a yes?" He finally manages to say.

"...Yes," Nagisa blushes an even deeper red. She isn't sure what expression she has on her face, but Karma slowly turns red. Toying with her fingers, Nagisa scuffs her food against the ground, avoiding eye-contact with Karma until she can't stand it.

Then, she looks up, just a little bit.

Karma still stares at her, then he pushes the window open more than it has been. Only when he sits on the windowsill, and spins himself to face away from the inside of the house to the outside, does Nagisa realise what he's planning.

"Karma! Stop!" She yelps, but Karma ignores her with a cheerful wave, then jumps.

...

From

.

A

.

Window

.

On

.

The

.

Second

.

Floor

...

And Nagisa screams, curling into herself and covering her face with her hands. She feels the sting of tears behind her eyelids.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Someone grabs her wrists, and pulls her hands away from her face.

Nagisa opens her eyes, tears slipping down her face and stares at the person in front of her...

Karma.

Now, tears fall from her eyes like water from a facut and she weeps, glad for the redhead that stands in front of her, alive and healthy - how _is_ he perfectly fine, anyway?! He _jumped_ from the second story of a building! - and she falls to her knees, crying and weeping and howling and-

And then suddenly someone's lips are on hers, someone's hands are in her hair, and Nagisa gasps.

Karma pulls away from her, and the expression on his face is pure joy.

"Go out with me," He says, kneeling on the ground with her.

Nagisa stares at him.

"Go out with me," Karma repeats, and he's smiling wider than Nagisa's ever seen.

"Uwah," She whispers, then returns his smile with one of her own. "Yes!"

And Karma laughs, his smile growing, his eyes shut, his face radiant, and Nagisa feels a ridiculously delighted feeling spread through her, from her head to her toes.

Without warning, Karma moves his hands from her face to the sides of her face, and he pulls Nagisa to him, kissing her again.

She giggles a little, and bats him away.

"Oh my actually shit," Karma lets out a breath, getting to his feet and pressing his hands against the side of his face. "You said yes. Ohhhhhh, my god. Ohhhhhh god. Ohhhh man..."

"You look really pleased," Nagisa observes, a gentle smile on her face.

"Well, yeah!" Karma whirls around and grins at her. "I love you."

...

...

...

...

...

!

Nagisa turns bright red on the spot, and she groans, sitting back and pulling her knees to her chest and pressing her face against them. "When you say it so casually, it makes my heart pound..." Nagisa mumbles.

"Mind your skirt, Nagisa," Karma says cheerfully, seeming not to have heard her, and she looks up, seeing Karma holding out a hand to her.

" _Th_ _-Thank you..._ " She mumbles in English, and accepts Karma's hand.

Karma pulls her to her feel, and Nagisa starts as he uses to much force, causing her to stumble into him. Almost immediately after, Karma kisses her again, his arms wrapped around her waist.

"U-Uwah!" Nagisa gasps when they part, feeling confused. She's a girl with little to no experience in romance, and she's just had her first, second and third kiss today. Before she can say anything more, Karma has leaned down, tucking his head into her shoulder, taking deep breaths that tickles a little.

"Karma?" Nagisa asks hesitantly.

"I'm just..." Karma lets out a soft breath, and Nagisa shivers at the feeling through her coat. "Really happy...let me...stop and relax a bit..."

Nagisa smiles softly, brings her arms around Karma.

"Take your time," She says gently.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

 **I FINALLY FINISHED IT**

 **THE CHRISTMAS SPECIALS**

 **IT'S THE SECOND OF JANUARY WHERE I am oops, forgot to turn off caps lock. Sorry, probably third of january by the time I post this;;**

 **School starts tomorrow, for me *haizzzzz* so updates will probably be once a week (though with just _how_ sportanous my updates have been, they'll probably be about the same as they are now) or more if I feel like it ^^**

 **I made a lot of references to Clamp's works in the christmas specials, I realise *makes humming sound* I apologise for that, but I'm a diehard Clamp fan XD**

 **I hope you guys liked this!**

 **Expect a normal chaptor sometime this week**

 **REVIEW REPLLLIEEESSS (But only the reviews on the christmas chapter review replies from the AN and chapter 15 will be in Chapter 16 MUAHAHAHAHA):**

 _ **Xenocanaan:** Gah! I suppose it _ was _pretty obvious *guilty smile* glad that you didn't get annoyed by it ^^_

 _pt.2: Hope you enjoyed the final part Happy new year! (A little late, hope you don't mind!)_

 ** _FlamingAngel525:_** _:O Most people really don't want Nagisa to miss Karma's birthday party. I understand the sentiment *sighssss* But I'm really bad with violence, so I left the punishment Nagisa's mother gave to her ambigous. I'm glad that you found the previous chapter worth the wait (Seriously, sorry that was late!) I hope this one was worth it too ^^_

 ** _Aipom4:_** _A (very late) Merry Christmas! And a (slightly late) Happy new year!_

 ** _Shiranai Atsune:_** _Thank you XD Glad you liked it_

 ** _RinnTachibana:_** _It's been a while since you reviewed :) Welcome baccccckkk!_ _Yay! The chapter got called cute XD *whispers* Yes, Karma has always liked Nagisa *HOHOHOHOHOHOHO* Karma's parents are super chill, modeled after (JIC anyone wants to know) my aunt and uncle, who have four children. And-WHOA MY CHROMEBOOK IS AT 1% RUN FOR THE CHARGER! And I was about to say that to be honest, it's alright ^^ connections are very important *sits at the edge of seat and nods head* to be honest, I've also kinda forgot what I wrote (I'll comb through my review replies later, sorry!) and as you can (HOPEFULLY) see from this, Nagisa's been very insecure, until Chi and Syaoran help her out. (I FEEL SO SAD FOR HER GYAH!) (EVEN THOUGH_ I'M _THE ONE WRITING THIS!) Don't worry about it, though ^^ Merry (sssssuuuuupppppeeerrr lateeeee) Christmas! And a (slightly late) happy new year!_

 ** _RedRidingHood'sScythe:_** _Haha, Looks like there are a lot of Tsubasa fans here XD *waves arms in the air* Glad to meet a fellow fan! :3_

 ** _TheJubilations:_** _Hi! Nice to 'see' you again! Glad you liked it ^^ (Sorry the chapter came out late!)_

 _Pt.2: YES I CAN! MUAHAHAHAHA_

 ** _Amaya Kuruta:_** _Is it?! A second person called the chapter cute! Yay! Yeah, she got drunk and told him :3 Karma would have figured it out, either way, since he's pretty sharp. Nagisa's a really loose lipped drunk, it seems hee hee *hug* Writer :D_

 _Pt 2: Poor Nagisa right? I swear, Karma would beat up her mom but GAH, that would probably make Nagisa sad. . And he won't do something Nagisa doesn't like. Unfortunately, Nagisa loves her mother_

 ** _Marshmallow:_** _NAGISA SORTA STANDS UP TO HER MOTHER! But not really, sorry. Yeah, Nagisa's a really sweet character, but because he's used to being walked over, he never stands up for himself. I'd love to make him...her? stand up for him/herself, but argh *squirms awkwardly* DANG YOU, PLOT! Sorry for not responding to reviews ^^ But these extras are kinda like...well, yep. All connect, which is why the replies are at the end of the whole extra. It's actually in thirds :P (as you can tell from this) But I hope you liked it anyway :3! See you in the next chapter (the proper chapter!)_

 _Pt 2: HAPPY NEW YEAR! Ah the faith is low, sorry I'll do my best this year (it was my new years resolution! *balls hand into fist* That and to be more optimistic! And wow, you re-read it five times? You're amazing! Whoa, that's a lot of ideas (and five is my magic number! Amazing! I like the first and third idea, but for the second idea - I'm usually strongly against pairing OCs with cannon characters. Call it my thing. I don't usually like it; I can tolerate it, but I will avoid it if I can. I like the last idea, and I want select classmates to find out, since...well, if the whole class did before the bit on Nagisa's mom..._ _well, yeah.) Happy new year :3 (Slightly late) Merry Christmas! (SSSUUUUUUPER LATE). Nagisa is very insecure, so sometimes she feels that what her mother does is justified. However, with her starting to realise ~~ Well, as you can see, Nagisa's mother isn't mentioned much in part three._

 ** _23CR3T:_** _XD WHOA! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PRAISE! I FEEL ALL NICE INSIDE, THANK YOU!_

 _ **J.C** : (I still want to know what the initials stand for *huffs* even if you forgot) Haha, that's me with cliffhangers XD Hope you liked the previous chapter, and this one!_

 ** _Guest Potato:_** _Hai! Thank you for loving this story ^^ AND YAY IT GOT CALLED CUTE AGAIN! Oh wow, did I imapct you that much? That makes me so happy XD If the japanese terms are confusing to you, more manga should be your best friend :3 I used to be confused, then I read enough manga to low-key shock a bear, and finally learnt a lot (long sigh from my mother) I'm delighted that my story means so much to you, and I hope you liked the rest of the extras! I'm a major shipper too, but sometimes my ships are..._ _strange?_ _Strange. So yep. But I'll try! See you next round, Guest Potato ^^ (And Aren't I cruel? At least you got this!)_

 ** _SierraLynE:_** _Updated! Thank you for loving this XD_

 _ **Guest**_ **:** _Uh, yes. Yes, they are._

 ** _GingerHale:_** _*smiles* Right? Karma and Nagisa ftw!_

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

 **I was too lazy to remove the author's notes :P**


	17. Chapter 16

**Random fact!**

 **I just found out that the shiny line (this:** *:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧) **I use for my line breaks actually counts towards my word count. It counts as 23 words :O**

 **Warnings: Uh does Terasaka count?** **TERASAKA IN THIS CHAPTER! MODERATE AmoUNtS OF SWEaring! Cause...I...I dunno?**

 **OH! OC WARNING: Midkey! And story deveration as usual ^^**

 **On a side note -**

 **Yay. I'm home *casts dreading looks at the door* yay...or something :P**

 **I think i didn't mention that I returned, though it was pretty obvious.**

 ***flops on bed***

 **I'm going to immerse myself in fanfiction when I have free time.**

 **Anyway, I'm back to the land of...heat and trees, so here's a chapter (hopefully in time for the end of the week)**

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

 _Chapter 16:_

 _Terasaka Gang, Itona, mild anger issues and a destroyed pool_

 **OR**

 _Terasaka's time!_

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

 _This class_

 _Is extraordinary._

 _They're known as a shitpile with the lowest scores in school, and yet..._

 _They weren't put off by the interference on the midterms, and the average score shot up._

 _Playing in the ball tournament, they ended up winning against the baseball team thanks to the strength they gained through assassination._

 _The conditions around here are improving, too._

 _Recently, Class E's gotten a pool for their personal use._

 _It's an extraordinary class._

 _And..._

 _That's why_

 _I hate it._

Terasaka Ryouma, a third year middle schooler, sits on his chair, balancing on two of it's legs.

"Everyone! You gotta look at this!" Okajima bursts into the room, arms waving frantically. "Something's happened to the pool!"

 _About time they noticed,_ Ryouma smirks to himself.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

The pool is filled with debris.

Someone had taken the beach chairs and smashed them up, tossing it's remains into the water. Some snapped off branches had been thrown it as well, along with rubbish and some...strange magazines.

"…Tch," Maehara fumes. "It's all busted up!"

"Bitch-sensei lost her chance to debut her sexy swimsuit!" Yada yells, sounding sorry for their blonde teacher, who stands on the rocks with a blank look on her face, a snorkel in her hair and a towel wrapped around her.

"But who would do such a thing?" Manami asks quietly, fishing up a piece of rubbish.

Nagisa stays silent, turning to look at the Terasaka gang. Hadn't Karma said that they had been up to something?

"Uh oh, what a bummer~" Yoshida hums, smirking.

"No big loss, ya'know?" Muramatsu waves his hand dissmissively. "I mean, pools are a pain in the ass."

"..." They're most definitely up to something. Nagisa narrows her eyes.

"What the hell are _you_ looking at, Nagisa?" Terasaka makes his way towards her, and grabs her collar. "Do you...think that we're the culprits or something? Is that it?" Terasaka snarls. _Yes_ , Nagisa thinks privately. _I do think that._ "That's not gonna get'cha anywhere."

 _I know that,_ she thinks, and stares at Terasaka

"Please release me," Nagisa murmurs, thinking. _Why would Terasaka destroy the pool? After his assassination attempt at the beginning of the year, he stopped trying. He has no reason to do this, except of of spite..._ Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Karma makes his way towards Terasaka and her, looking miffed.

"Indeed, playing the blame game would get us nowhere," Korosensei hums, appearing by Nagisa and Terasaka. "Searching for the culprit would not do us any good, so there is no need to do so," in a flash, Korosensei has cleaned the pool, repaired the broken deck chairs and used the leftover debris to craft a strange looking contraption that seems to be a eye rinser.

"There you go," Korosensei says cheerfully. "Please go on and play as you always do."

Terasaka's so surprised, he drops Nagisa.

"Ouch..." She murmurs, rubbing her back.

"Nagisa-chan, have a water gun!" Karma throws said object at her, and Nagisa offers him a smile as she pics up the water gun and fills it.

Soon, the class is having fun, blasting Korosensei with jets of water.

But not _everyone_ is at the pool...

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

"Is there something up with Terasaka?" Sugino asks.

Nagisa jumps, having not heard the dark haired boy walk up to her and Kaede.

"...Well, those three haven't been active in studying-" Nagisa begins.

"It shows," Kaede adds, trying to sound wise as she nods her head. "They all seem so stupid.

"-Or assassination-"

"Unfortunately, that doesn't show," Kaede pats her stomach, sighing.

"-But you could say that Terasaka-kun's been particularyly irritated-" Nagisa continues, only to massage her forehead as Kaede interupts once again.

"Yeah, that definitely shows," Kaede pouts. "I mean, he's been doing the whole 'Rawr, I'm mad,' thing and the whole 'Hah, I'm so smart-' he reallty isn't '-and you can't get me without proof! Innocent until proven guilty!'" Kaede tiptoes, and scrunches up her face as she speaks, trying to imitate Terasaka. Almost as an afterthought, she adds. "Though, he's still pretty stupid."

And Nagisa thinks she hears Kaede whisper something, but she isn't sure what.

"What was that?" Karma asks.

"Nothing," Kaede says cheerfully.

"Whatever the case, Terasaka-kun's definitely one of the main culprits of the pool's destruction," Nagisa scratches the back of her head.

"Just leave 'im be," Sugino claps her on the back. "Guys like him who never give up bullying are such killjoys."

"I think that not enjoying yourself," Karma hums. "In a classroom where you're allowed to kill is such a waste, though~"

"You would know," Nagisa smiles lightly, bumping her shoulder against Karma's. "Haven't you been training with Kuro-papa and Syao-kun?"

"Ah, you caught me~" Karma teased, laughing. "Besides, if Terasaka does anything to you..."

"I know," Nagisa bumps his shoulder again. "You two go have fun. Kaede and I are resting here."

"We're waiting for Yuki!" Kaede chirps. "She's getting drinks~!"

"Yuki...KANZAKI-SAN?!" Sugino gasps, his eyes going wide.

"Yes, Sugino-kun?" A familar, light voice asks.

"K-Kanzaki-san!" Sugino gasps, and steps away from Nagisa and Kaede.

Yukiko frowns, looking a little upset as she watches Sugino. "Sugino-kun, am I interrupting something? You always look so uncomfortable around me...I apologise if it's something I've said..."

"I-It's nothing!" Sugino stammers, flushing bright red.

"Really?" Yukiko takes a few steps toward Sugino, but for every step forward she takes, Sugino takes one back. Yukiko's expression falls, and she looks away. "You must really hate me..." She mumbles, so quietly Nagisa almost misses it.

But she doesn't.

Sugino doesn't seem to have heard, but Kaede is hitting Nagisa's arm with enough force to lightly karate chop a piece of paper, and Karma's eyebrows have just shot into his hairline.

"Yukiko..." Nagisa says quietly.

"It's nothing, Nagisa-san," Yukiko says easily, a smile sliding onto her face. "Sugino-kun, Karma-kun, have fun with Korosensei!"

"W-We will!" Sugino blushes even redder. "I-I...Thank you, Kanzaki-san!'

"Bye bye, Nagisa!" Karma waves, and the two boys head to continue the shooting game with Korosensei.

"Yukiko..." Nagisa spreads her arms as soon as the boys are gone. "Do you...?"

"Yes," Yukiko more or less falls into Nagisa's embrace, hugging the smaller girl tightly. Stroking Yukiko's hair, Nagisa can't help but feel sorry for her. Next to them, Kaede frets over Yukiko, patting her head and offering her sweets.

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Feeling a buzzing in her pocket, Nagisa pulls it out, and reads the message from Chihiro.

Immediately, she goes pale.

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"Hey, Terasaka," Muramatsu speaks up, his hand in his pocket as he avoids looking Ryouma in the eye. The two of them are sitting under a tree, near the E Campus. "Don'cha think we should change our thinking a bit? We went with your suggestion, and destroyed the pool, but just like you saw, that octopus wasn't even fazed. Even if we keep the other guys in our class at a distance, there's no point to it anymore.

"..." Not responding, Ryouma can't help but feel annoyed. _No point to it anymore?_

 _It's all the monsters fault,_ Ryouma thinks bitterly. _Until he came along, I was part of a worthless group of people, and yet..._

As Muramatsu turns, Ryouma sees a white thing sticking out of his back pocket.

"Muramatsu. What's that thing in your pocket?" Ryouma growls.

"W-Well, on the last mook exam I took, I scored higher than I'd ever done before!" Muramatsu grins, looking a little bit embarrassed. _And he_ should. "I'm glad my grades went up."

 _Not you too,_ suppressing a groan, Ryouma grabs Muramatsu's collar. "WHADDYA MEAN YOU'RE GLAD YOUR GRADES WENT UP?!" He yells. "YOU WANNA SAY THAT AGAIN, MURAMATSU?!"

"Well, it _is_ the highest I've ever gotten," Muramatsu says uncomfortably. "And it's all thanks to Pre-Exam Slithery Study Cram sessions-"

This is too much. "You mean you actually did that slithery study shit?"

"Well...uh..." Muramatsu looks away.

Tightening his hold on Muramatsu's collar, Ryouma snarls. "Even after we swore that we wouldn't give him the time of the day?"

"But there's a big difference with the slithery and the non-slithery-"

"Enough with the slithering!" Ryouma shakes Muramatsu. Flinging him, he watches Muramatsu as he crashes into the tree behind him, crying out as his back hits the trunk. "You just played both sides until you got the grades you wanted...damn traitor."

 _I don't like how everyone's falling for this octopus, hook, line and sinker,_ Ryouma fumes, marching into the E campus. Kicking off his outdoor shoes, Ryouma snatches his indoor ones and jam his feet into them. _It just don't sit well with me. At first...there were plenty of others who thought the same way I did..._

"Whoa, seriously, Korosensei?!" Hearing Yoshida's voice coming from the classroom - sounding happy about the octopus, it seems - Ryouma slides open the door, and sees the damned octopus sitting on wooden motorcycle. "It looks just like the real thing!"

"Well, there was enough scrap in the pool to make one," Korosensei says, acting all embarrassed. Tch. He's dressed a stupid little motorcycle bodysuit, with Ryouma's stupid _classmates_ gathered around him.

 _Disgusting._

"What're ya doing, Yoshida?" Ryouma snaps.

"H-Hey, Terasaka," Yoshida looks over his shoulder, seeming guilty to have been caught. "W-Well the two of us were talking 'bout motorcycles the other day, since no one else is into 'em."

Laughing in a smug way, the damned octopus turns his attention to the rather well-done (Well-done? Ryouma means crappy) wooden bike. "Not only am I a grown up, I am also a man among men! I've been know to dabble in this kind of hobby." With a sigh, the damned octopus pretends to be riding the crappy wooden bike. "Plus, this baby can go three hundred kilometer an hour. What I wouldn't give to ride the real thing one day..."

"Ya kidding?! Won't it be faster to just pick it up and fly with it?!" Yoshida jokes, and the octopus changes out of his ridiculous bodysuit.

Hating this, Ryouma slams his foot against the motorcycle, knocking it over.

The stupid octopus turns blue and starts screaming.

Immediately, the class turns to him, yelling out insults, even Yoshida.

"The hell, Terasaka! What was that for?!" Yoshida demands, and Ryouma feels a vein bulging in his forehead.

"Korosensei's not just a man, he's a man among men!" The silly blond who sits next to the blue shrimp snaps. "And you made him cry!"

"Yeah, what she said!" The rest of the classmates snarl in unison.

Ryouma finds that now, when he needs to use the _thing_ , he doesn't really need to act out his anger.

"Ya'll are buzzin' around like a buncha bugs," He snaps, snatching the spray out from under his table. "Time for an extermination!" Throwing the spray can as hard as he can, Ryouma aims for roughly the center of his classmates. Idiots can live with the shitting spray, he thinks angrily, watching as the contents of the spray fooshes out in a giant cloud.

As they all cough and fan their hands in front of their face (Yeah, like _that's_ gonna help. Idiots), he hears them cry out, asking what the spray is.

"Terasaka-kun," Great. The damn octopus is red, walking towards him. At the very least, he walks through the spray. "Pranks are pranks, but this is going too far-" As the shitting octopus reaches, _reaches_ for him, and Ryouma slaps away the tentacle.

"Don't touch me, monster," He snaps, glaring at the octopus, then his classmates. "You're beyond creepy - all of you. Gettin' all pulled into being buddy-buddy with a monster!"

"What's gotcha so bothered, hnn?" A redhead at the back of class hums.

Karma.

Shit

Ryouma hadn't noticed him, him and his silly little short blue shrimp of a girlfriend.

Ugh.

What he hates most about Karma is that the freaking redhead always knows how to get under his skin. He's like a mix between Hazama and that damn octopus.

"If you don't like it," Karma carries on. "Just kill him. We're allowed to do that here, you know."

Next to him, the annoyed blue shrimps tugs on Karma's arm. "Karma," She says quietly.

"You tryina pull something?" Ryouma snarls. "Fine by me! From day one, you and your stupid girl-"

Before he can continue, Karma grabs his face, his palm, which is thin and seems easy to break, covering Ryouma's lips. His grip is painful.

"Now, now, Terasaka," Karma says slowly, his grip tightening. "If you wanna fight, actions speak louder than words~"

Meeting Karma's eyes, Ryouma sees that he's completely serious.

"Lemme go," Ryouma slaps Karma's hand away, and turns, marching out.

He'll show him.

He'll show all his classmates.

That monster ain't hard to kill.

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Nagisa stares at the sky as she and Karma walk home, hands intertwined.

"Something bothering you?" Karma asks, squeezing her hand.

"Hmm?" Nagisa blinks, and turns her attention back to Karma as he leads her down the street going to the cafe. Judging from her slightly glassy eyes, she doesn't recognise the route. "Just...something's up with Terasaka-kun...even Hazama-san was worried."

"She was worried about _you_ ," Karma rolls his eyes, and he watches Nagisa. Her eyes become focussed, and Karma wonders if her troubles are only just about Terasaka. Quietly, he rolls up her sleeves. No new bruises or cuts on her arms, but that doesn't mean that aren't any anywhere else. "She's fond of you, and I can see why."

"Is she really?" Nagisa asks, blinking at Karma with wide eyes. _Geez, she didn't notice?_ Karma sighs, recalling how Hazama has been watching over Nagisa (which is nice, because Hazama is surprisingly dependable) ever since Nagisa and her had worked together on the basketball thing.

(Speaking of the basketball thing, Karma's mostly figured it out. A bet, and Yada-san, had been involved)

"Yep," Karma pushes open the door to a cafe, and only then does Nagisa seem to realise where he's bringing her.

"Oh! Cat's Eye!" Nagisa exclaims. A few months back, shortly before the new schooling year began, Mokona and Modoki **[If you don't remember them...sorry]** suggested a name for the cafe, which had had none, given by their guardian overseas. _Cat's eye_. Yuui had designed a nice logo to go with it, too, a silhouette of a cat's head.

"Nagisaaaaa!" The second she steps into the shop, Karma holding the door open for her like the undercover gentleman he is, he watches Nagisa as she is tackled into a hug. "You haven't been in soooo long! I missed you!"

"C-Chi-chan, you're choking me...!" Nagisa pushes at her attacker's arms weakly. Karma laughs, amused. Nagisa is too small, and too weak to push Chi (finally on her last year of high school) off her.

Sure enough, the older girl beams as she pulls away from Nagisa. Her pale blonde hair is pinned up into a neat bun, and Chi actually looks...neat. She radiates poise, and has a gentle smile on her face. _What's up with this_? The Chi Karma knows is the girl who wears dresses but plays with boys, who is air-headed, but people oriented. Not...intellectual.

"You look fancy," Karma notes, draping an arm around Nagisa.

"I always do," Chi makes to flip her hair, then decides not to. "What can I get for you both?"

"STOP!" A loud, familar voice calls. The voice sounds like...Pudding girl. Ugh.

Karma follows Nagisa's surprised gaze, which leads where Kaede, Manami, Yukiko, Yada, Nakamura and Fuwa are all (somehow) fitted inside a booth.

"Ah, Kaede, Manami-san, Yada-san, Nakamura-san and Fuwa-san," Nagisa bows towards them. "What a pleasant surprise."

"Nagisa-chan, c'mon," Karma grabs her elbow, and drags her to the counter before she can ask Kaede anything. Call him selfish, but Karma thinks that this cafe is _their_ place. "Kuro-gaga, get Nagisa some of that grub you call Chinese food!" He calls, trying not to think too much about it. Of course, Kuro's food is the best he's ever had, ever, save for his own. Seriously. He learnt cooking from one of Syaoran's friends, the same who thought Yuui and Kuro.

"I will sock you, kid," Kuro growls through the window behind the counter. "Don't let Syaoran hear you say that."

"Say what?" Speak of the devil, Nagisa thinks, watching Syaoran as he hops over the counter, passing a tray full of dirty plates through the window. Then, Syaoran covers his eyes, turning red from the tip of his head down to his neck. "Mama! I can see you!" _Interesting...what's Yuui doing?_

"Sorry, Syao-Syao!" Yuui hums, appearing at the window and giving Syaoran a quick hug. "Love you too, honey."

"That's not going to make me forget, you know," Syaoran sighs, his face still red, then he turns to Nagisa and Karma. "What did you order?"

"Dumplings," Karma answers, though, really, he's just picking it off the menu now. "And wanton noodles. Also this...ku-keh tao soup?" How do you pronounce it? "What's that?"

"Mama and Papa stayed a week in Taiping, Malaysia," Syaoran explains. "They liked the 'kueh tiao' soup they served there," he says slowly, enunciating the words 'kueh tiao', so that Karma learns how. "So they persuaded-"

"Papa bullied!" Chi interrupts, passing Syaoran a tray of dirty dishes.

"-the locals into teaching them," Syaoran finishes, giving Chi a _look_. Basically, _don't say stupid things. Papa doesn't really_ bully. Because Syaoran is too nice. "Go serve table fifteen. They've been looking at us for a long while."

 _Ah, Kaede and Yukiko's table,_ Karma recalls, and sees Nagisa peer over her shoulder, her ears turning red. He knows that she is imagining how this must look to them, she and Karma chatting casually with the staff of Cat's Eye.

"Try this!" Yuui holds out a dish through the window, what looks like strange green noodles inside a bowl, mixed with with a curiously pumpkin orange liquid and with ice, a teaspoon sticking out from it. Ah. Karma's made that for himself before. Sweet and delicious. "It's chengdu!"

"Thank you, Yuui-mama," Nagisa offers a smile. She looks a little grossed out. Poor girl. Chengdu does look a little strange the first time you see it. Karma accepts the cup, using the spoon to scoop the sweet liquid as well as the noodle-like things. Seriously, this is one good dish. The malaysians know how the eat.

"No problem! It's a dessert, so just wait a bit, m'kay?" Yuui winks, and disappears from the window.

Karma spots movement from the corner of his eye, then glances over his shoulder, seeing streaks of yellow between the large, green leaves of a nearby, large, potted plant. Also, the _person_ hiding behind the plant isn't too thin, and he can see parts of her body sticking out. _Geez_. "I can see you, Nakamura-san!"

"Pooh!" Sticking out her tongue, Nakamura leaves her plant and walks to the counter, but doesn't take a seat. "Let me take a picture of Nagisa 'nd you! I want to set it as my wallpaper~"

"Pervert," Karma mocks, and Nakamura rolls her eyes.

"You'd do the same if it were me going out with...say, Sugaya."

"Nah, I'd set Nagisa-chan as my wallpaper and lock screen," Karma slings an arm around Nagisa, and kisses her cheek. Promptly, Nagisa goes red.

 _Snap!_

"Send it to me," Karma gives Nakamura a friendly wave.

 _Thump_.

"Oh, brilliant," Syaoran remarks, staring at Chi, who is staring at the ceiling of Cat's Eye, her eyes wide and open. Her fingers clutch the counter and her shoulders seem to be shaking. _Ah, she's fangirling._ "Chi, you better go in. I'll get mama to take over," Karma, Nagisa and Nakamura watches as Syaoran leads Chi through the 'Staff and Monkeys' door. Soon, Yuui comes out, dressed as a female, and takes over waiting on the customers.

"She's so tall," Karma starts, and Nagisa jumps when the pudding girl speaks from behind them. _Where did the shortie come from_. "Maybe she's a model?"

"Yuui-mama?" Nagisa blinks in surprise.

"On that note," pudding shrimp grabs Nagisa's arms. "Nagisa, is that really pretty woman your mother?"

Nagisa's jaw drops, and Karma howls with laughter next to her. _Nagisa's mother...if only it could be Yuui. If only...but then, Nagisa wouldn't be Nagisa. Perhaps in an alternate universe..._

"N-No!" Nagisa says frantically.

"Aww, cause this place makes the, like, best sweets!" Pudding seems to drool. "You don't think that you could maybe get me a dis-" She had beeter not be suggesting what Karma thinks she is about to suggest.

"I'd never do that!" Nagisa interrupts hastily. "Whatever it is you are thinking of!" Before she can fully register her panic, Yuui's gentle hand is resting on her shoulder.

 _Nice, Yuui!_ Karma smirks at Yuui.

"Honey, can you go put this behind with Kuro-pyon?" Yuui asks, passing Nagisa a tray. "And bring this to my little Chi," Yuui handed a wrapped book to Nagisa.

"Y-Yes," Nagisa says slowly, then looks at Karma. "Karma, do you...?"

"I'd like to, but I think I'll slap on a nametag and help out Kuro-won," Karma shrugs. "I mean, Chi's like, in a weird state, and Syao-chan had to call Yuui out, so I think I'll help."

"Y-Yes," Nagisa tilts her head, her brows furrowing, as she tries to understand Karma's words. _Ah, Nagisa is a little slow today. She must really be worrying over something._ "I...I...um, I understand?"

"Nah, you don't," Karma smiles and guides her through the 'Staff and Monkey' door. "Go, talk to Chi. She'll probably help you with whatever you're thinking about." He adds, recalling how Nagisa seems so slow and a little distracted. He's a bit annoyed that it's something she can't talk to _him_ about, but at least she has other friends.

Nagisa starts, then laughs, pushing the tray Yuui passed her to Karma. "You always know when I'm worried," She kisses him on the cheek, and disappears up the stairs.

 _Good luck, Nakamura, pudding,_ Karma thinks. _When Nagisa's got a close circle of friends, she doesn't really tell anything to those in her outer circles. Good luck trying to shove your way in._

He, of course, had been one of the first people in the closest circle.

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It is the middle of the night.

And guess where Ryouma is?

Definitely not in bed, and he's on the freaking campus mountain, but at least he's definitely getting cash.

 _A world in crisis, a world in self-improvement in the name of an assassination, recovering after being left in the dust..._ Ryouma kicks over a large can, watching the liquid gush into the stream that leads to the pool. _Honestly, I don't give a damn about any of it. I just want to take it easy and live each day as it comes. And that's why..._

"Well done."

Ryouma turns, staring at the figure cloaked in white. _Shiro_. "Here's your hundred-thousand yen reward," Smirking, Ryouma accepts it, counting through the bills. "We got a lot of prep work done today, thanks to you."

 _Now these guys, I don't mind_ , Ryouma smirks. _The money doesn't hurt._

"That octopus has a good nose on him, which is why we need someone on the inside to help us set the stage for Itona to _really_ show his stuff," Shiro hums, and Ryouma catches sight of the white haired kid, Itona, perched on a branch behind Shiro. What's that kid, a monkey?

As if reading his thoughts, Itona hops down, staring with his usual blank face

"Terasaka Ryouma, I understand only too well how you feel," Shiro soothes, not seeming to notice Itona. "Just relax. Follow my plan to the letter, and he'll be dead before you know it. We'll put the E Class to the way that it was before he came."

Ryouma stares at the money, pockets it, then grins and nods at Shiro.

"You," Itona speaks up.

"Hmm?" And before Ryouma can react, Itona gets all up close and personal with his face, their noses practically touching.

 _This kid is so weird,_ Ryouma resist the urge to punch him.

"You're weaker than the redheaded fellow," Itona nods slowly, his eyes freakishly wide. "Even though you've got more raw energy and a better physique." _Nosy nobody,_ Ryouma clenches his hand into a fist. "Do you know why I can tell?" _No, and I don't want to know._ "You've got no vision in your eyes." Itona pushes Ryouma's eyes wider, and Ryouma trembles, resisting the urge to just-just-just... "There's no want or will to win. The slow witted cow who _slowly_ chews the food in front of him is no match for the wolf with a cow-killing vision." Itona releases him, and sighs, shaking his head and walking away.

 _Wait, I'm the cow?_

"Why, you little-!" Ryouma starts towards Itona, but Shiro gently holds him back.

"Now, now," He reminds him. "Tomorrow, we act."

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Lunch period starts with Korosensei crying what looks to be yellow goo.

"What's with all the crying over nothing?" Bitch-sensei asks, eating lunch with Yada and Kurahashi and their group.

Nagisa barely registers the conversation, busy texting at the speed of light. _Naruru...not now, and not today!_

"No, no," Korosensei is saying. "Those are my nostrils, these are my eyes!" He probably indicated, but Nagisa's a little too-

 _Wait, he's having a runny nose?_

Reading the message that Naruko has sent her, Nagisa suddenly snaps her knees up, trying to stand, and they bump against the bottom of the table. Without pausing, Nagisa spins herself away from her table (Kaede, Manami and Yukiko calling after her worriedly, Sugino seeming stunned, as he had been telling a story, and Karma looks amused, since he had been reading the texts over Nagisa's shoulder) and hurries out of the door.

As she does, she almost bumps into Terasaka.

"Sorry!" She says without looking up from her phone.

 _Naruko, you_ idiot.

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"Nagisa-san?" The freaking octopus calls when the blue shrimp flees the room, only to see Ryouma entering. "Terasaka-kun! I was so worried that you wouldn't come in today!" The monster octopus grabs's Ryouma's shoulders, gunks of yellow goo spraying all over the poor boy.

 _Gross._

Ryouma wipes the mucus off his face using the octopus's tie, then smirks, recalling what Shiro had told him.

 _The spray can that you let loose in the class yesterday, was like a cedar-pollen allergen that works only on him,_ whatever a cedar-pollen allergen is, _it dulls the senses of all tentacle life forms. Now that you've done that, reel him in._

"Hey, ocotpus," Jabbing a finger into the octopus's soft chest, Ryouma narrows his eyes. "It's time we killed you for real. Come to the pool after class. After all...I hear that water's your weakness." Turning to the rest of the calss, he gives his most confident grin. "The rest of you come help! I'll knock him smack into the water for you!"

"Well, you haven't helped with anyone else's assassination, Terasaka," The bastard playboy...Maehara comments. "And now you're ordering us around when it suits out?"

 _Say what you want. I know you'll all come_.

"You really think that anyone's gonna jump at the chance to help you?" Maehara narrows his eyes.

"Like a give a damn either way," _He really didn't...kind of_. "I'll just keep the ten billion bounty to myself." Turning, he leave the classroom.

 _The bait has been thrown._

 _Your move, octopus._

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"Stupid, stuuuuupid, stupid, stuuupiiiiid, stupiiiiiiid," Nagisa hears them before she sees them. _Really, Chihiro?_ Nagisa sighs, and waits for her three friends to get into eyeshot.

"Naruru, what's the big idea?!" Nagisa demands, blocking off the top of the staircase that leads up the mountain (really, the staircase only starts at the final five meters at the top of the mountain). "And you, Chihiro, encouraging her? And, Meiko, you're in one of the top schools of Japan! You shouldn't be skipping classes!"

"Whaa~! Nacchan is like a mother!" Meiko gasps. "Meiko is scared!"

And her three friends are in front of her, staring at her in surprise.

"So even Nacchan can get angry," Chihiro notes, brushing her hair behind her ear. "How interesting."

"Sorrs, Nacchan," Naruko says sheepishly. "But I really needed a like, break. And so, Hiro-tan and Meicchi decided to come with! Then we thought we'd hear about what happened to the bed. That stuck up bit...brat from Kunugigaoka is actually struggling with her studies now, and she doesn't look down on me as much. So, we wanted to see you."

"None of that made sense," Nagisa passes a hand over her forehead.

Oh gosh.

She feels that something _bad_ is going to happen, and then the three of them come. Her feeling is still there, of course, and she squeezes her eyes shut.

Why _today._

Never mind. They're already here.

Walking quick steps to Chihiro, Nagisa grabs the taller girl by her shoulders. "Yesterday you said that you were sick! What happened? I got so worried! Your mother said that you were in the hospital when I called, and-"

"It is nothing, Nacchan," Chihiro brushes off Nagisa's concern with nothing more than a flick of her hand. "I want to see your class, especially since I have heard that the intelligent Nagisa and smartest boy in our school, Karma, is in the E-for-End Class."

Nagisa opens and closes her mouth a few times, then sighs. "My apologies for not telling you," She says awkwardly. "How did you find out?"

"Hmm," Is Chihiro's only reply, then she glances over Nagisa's shoulder. "Who is that boy? He looks like an uglier, male, version of Naruru."

"Hey! Don't compare me to that ape!"

When Nagisa turns, she sees Terasaka walking around the back of campus.

 _Buzz._

Nagisa fishes out her phone and briskly reads the rather long message Karma has sent her, an explanation of events.

 _Terasaka-kun wants to assassination Korosensei, huh?_

The last line of the text is two simple sentences.

 _I wonder what he's up to, that guy. Whatever it is, it's giving me a bad feeling, and I'm sure as hell not helping._

With a sigh, she gives her friends a stern look. "Do _not_ move from this spot," She instructs, and runs after the tall male.

"Terasaka-kun!" She calls, wondering what the matter is. Actually, why is she doing this? To determine if her _something bad is going to happen_ feeling is coming from Terasaka? "Are you really going to kill him?"

"Well duh, Nagisa," Terasaka snorts. "'Course I am."

Nagisa recalls the words from the text. _No plan mentioned..._ "Then maybe you should tell everyone your plan of action..."

"Aww, shut it!" Teraska snaps, grabbing her collar. Nagisa's eyes widen as she's lifted easily off her feet. _Argh...I wish I weighed more_. Even her mother can lift her up and throw her around. "You weaklings, always cowerin' together! Ain't like you got the _real_ vision for killin' him!" Terasaka releases Nagisa, and she falls over, her back stinging. "But I'm not like the rest of you. I've gotta vision for killing him, as easy as pie!"

Terasaka turns, and walks away, his hands in his pockets. As Nagisa gets up, she mulls over his words. _Terasaka-kun seems confident in his plan, but not in himself. Even his words sounded like someone else's._

"Nacchan!" A chirpy voice calls from behind her.

Nagisa slowly closes her eyes, and then turns.

Meiko stands a few feet away from her, waving. "Just going to say, Meiko, Hiro-tan and Naruru are going into the building now! Meiko, Hiro-tan and Naruru haven't seen Karma in ages, and Naruru swore that she saw a famous actor in your classroom and dashed right in! Sol...Meiko will be going now!"

Before Nagisa can process this, the light haired girl is suddenly gone.

And when it finally clicks in her head, Nagisa's eyes widen and she dashes into the classroom.

 _Why_ today?!

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

Karma hears them coming long before they enter the classroom.

Oh shit, is all he thinks, recalling how Nagisa had been frantically trying to dissuade Yanagi **[Naruko, Yanagi's her surname]** from coming with Isaki **[Meiko]** and Hisakawa **[Chihiro]**. If that is them, and that is increasingly likely, Korosensei shouldn't be here, since Yanagi, Isaki and Hisakawa aren't from Kunugigaoka class E and should therefore not know about Korosensei.

"Hey, sensei!" Karma calls, racking his brain for a way to get rid of him. Ah. He had taken the teacher's gelato and swiped his wallet yesterday (And donated the rather large stash of gravure magazines from Korosensei's drawer to Okajima in exchange for a photo of blackmail). "Notice anything missing from your desk?"

"Hmm?" Korosensei, still leaking mucus, seems confused, then his whole face goes horrified as it clicks. "NuYA!" He yells, and disappears out the door, probably racing to the staffroom at mach speed.

With that settled, Karma watches the mucus as it's sucked away with Korosensei. _Good_.

Shortly after, the door flies open, and three girls spill in.

Immediately, the curly haired brunette targets him, aiming for a direct hit. Without hesitation, Karma dodges and watches Yanagi Naruko as she careens past him and almost crashes into the wall.

"Still so predictable," Karma taunts.

"Can it, asshole!" Yanagi snaps, spinning around, her fists flailing. Karma neatly blocks her weak punches with a notebook, then flings it like a frisbee. It hits her square in the face.

The class gasps in unison.

"Jealousy's a bad colour on you," Karma smirks.

"Why you-!" Yanaga lunges for him, and Karma grabs her, pinning her into a headlock.

"Hisakawa-san, tame your guard dog!" Karma calls to the dark haired girl at the front of the class, hearing Yanagi splutter for air.

"GUARD DOG?! I'LL SHOW YOU GUARD DOG!" Before Yanagi can try to bite him (he's pretty sure that that's what she's going to do) he releases her and spins her in the general direction of the plump girl who likes to cook and Nakamura.

And then Nagisa bursts through the door, racing to where Yanagi has knocked over the plump girl.

"Naruko, stand up!" Nagisa scolds. "Behave yourself! You aren't in your own school, and this is not a playground!"

"He provoked me!" Yanagi protests.

"Karma?" Nagisa turns to him.

"I did nothing of the sort!" Karma reassures her. It isn't a lie, since Yanagi aimed for him first, then he retaliated. "Oi, Hisakawa-san, Isaki-san, you'd better leash your dog up!"

"Shut your mouth, bastard!" Yanagi stomps her foot. "It's all your fault!"

"What is?" Karma arches a brow.

"That Nacchan-"

"Naruko, that is _enough_." Hisakawa suddenly calls from the front of the class, adjusting her red framed glasses. "Mind your language. Whether you despise Karma-dono or not, you are wearing your school's uniform. Please behave with the expected decorum," Turning to Bitch-sensei - the big breasted lady had been in the classroom? - Hisakawa gives a perfect bow. "We are very sorry for intruding on your class, and causing such a ruckus."

Bitch-sensei's so stunned, she has no reaction.

"But Hiro-ta-" Yanagi starts.

"Naruko," Hisakawa narrows her eyes.

Growling, Yanagi gets to her feet, pulling the plump girl who likes to cook up behind her. After shooting him another glare, Yanagi makes her way to the front of the classroom.

"Ah, you probably don't know who we are," Isaki suddenly says, as though just remembering. "Well, Meiko is Isaki Meiko! And this very pretty girl here," Isaki gestures to Yanagi with a beam. "Is Yanagi Naruko, and this very elegant lady here," Isaki gestures to Hisakawa, who simply sighs, her posture perfect, "Is Hisakawa Chihiro. It's nice to meet you guys, and we're all Nacchan's friends!"

"Nacchan?" Bitch-sensei asks.

"Shiota Nagisa!" Isaki beams. "Meiko and Naruru and Hiro-tan missed Nacchan a lot, and we decided to skip class today! Just call us visiting students!"

"Skip class?" A slithery voice asks.

Ah, the octopus is back.

"Missing your porn mags, Korosensei?" Karma laughs to himself as Korosensei, in his human guise, slides opens the classroom door and enters.

"Gross," Yanagi declares.

"Naruko!" Hisakawa scolds. Turning to Korosensei, Hisakawa gives a short bow. "We are Shiota Naigsa's friends here to see how a class in Kunugigaoka is taught on a normal day."

"This is not a normal class in Kunugigaoka," Korosensei tells them. "Going to a different class would perhaps have been better."

"No, no, sensei!" Isaki says earnestly in a cutesy little voice, and Karma can _see_ Okajima and Mimura falling in love instantly. "Meiko...Meiko wants to Nacchan! And so does Chihiro, and Naruko!"

"I understand," Korosensei seems deep in thought. "How about we allow you to sit at the back of class and observe the lesson for the rest of the day, nyu?"

"Korosensei, they can't!" Nagisa shouts, then covers her mouth, looking embarrassed.

"Whyever not, Nagisa-san? Your friends came all the way up the mountain to see you," Korosensei reminds her.

 _Poor Nagisa_ , Karma puts an arm around his girlfriend, who looks petrified. She's probably afraid that they'll find out about Korosensei.

"Watch your hands, bastard!" Yanagi yells.

"And _you_ watch your mouth," Karma sticks out his tongue. "She's my _girlfriend_ , I'm _allowed_ to do this."

"Gah!" Yanagi stomps her foot, and Hisakawa gives her a clip on the head.

"Naruko, act your age," Hisakawa scolds, then turns to Korosensei. "Thank you very much, Sensei."

"No probably, Hisakawa-san. You three can sit at the back. I think we may have just enough tables to spare," Korosensei hums.

"Ah! Meiko has a question!" Isaki's hand shoots up.

"Yes, Isaki-san?"

"Who's that?" and Isaki points at Ritsu, who Karma had completely forgotten about.

"Ah, that's..." Korosensei pauses, looking panicked. How does one explain an AI, though?

"It's nice to meet you!" Ritsu beams on the screen of the device, waving at the girls. "My name is Ritsu! I study in Kunugigaoka too, but due to my parents' business, I had to move back home to Norway. Because they did not want to disrupt my learning, they allowed me to remain in my same class - using a broadcast! Isn't that brilliant?"

"So you're home and skyping?" Is Yanagi's less than eloquent reply. "And in air con?"

"Indeed!" Ritsu beams. "I do the assignments in time with the class, and email them to Korosensei! And even them, I still get to interact with my classmates!"

"It seems like a troublesome system," Hisakawa moves to the back of the classroom, inspecting Ritsu. "Your parents must love you very much."

"I'm sure that that is the case, Hisakawa-san!" Ritsu says, a little sadly.

"Sensei-san! There aren't enough tables," Isaki speaks up. "We'll just get some chairs and sit at the back, if that's ok?"

"Of course. Everyone, carry on with your lunch," Korosensei says.

Yanagi, Isaki and Hisakawa leave the classroom to get chairs, and Korosensei releases a breath, and suddenly buckets and buckets of yellow goo are falling on the floor.

"Where's that damned Karasuma when you need him?!" Irina snaps, then shoved the window open. "Get out! We can't let those three find out!"

"Y-Yes, Irina-sensei!" Korosensei flies out from the window, and Karma stares at the goo on the ground.

"How are we going to explain this," Bitch-sensei growls.

"We'll manage," Yada reassures.

(And somehow, they do. Even if Nagisa's friends think that there's a bazooka somewhere on campus [and they're not wrong], they're off Korosensei's track.)

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Nagisa is amazed at her friends.

Really.

They pay close attention to all the classes held from lunch onwards, Meiko even raising her hand in some. Chihiro's hand never stops moving, scrawling down what seems to be notes on notes on notes on everything Korosensei teaches, and Naruko...well, the poor brunette just looks confused. She never stops twiddling her thumbs, and seems relieved when Korosensei gives her a textbook to flip through.

At the end of the day, the three seem pleased.

"It was so interesting~" Meiko beams. "Wasn't boring, like the classes in Meiko's class! He taught things Meiko didn't know!" Seeing how Meiko was naturally smart (and also read all Chihiro's complicated textbooks over her shoulder), Nagisa could understand how normal junior high school material could bore the blonde.

Chihiro, in comparison, seems frazzled, her glasses are a little crooked, and her usually immaculate appearance looks...well, Chihiro just looks frazzled.

"It was indeed interesting," Chihiro nods, blinking hazily. "College level math was taught, and high school level English," Bitch-sensei had toned down her lesson a little (less innuendos, and a little less kissing, and more teaching). "In addition, science topics I have never heard off were also taught. All very fascinating..."

Naruko, has another completely different opinion.

"HOW THE HECK?!" She yells as soon as they are out of class. "I couldn't understand any of that! How do you carry the 'x' across the '' symbol? I don't get it! What the heck is osmosis? And ionic bonding? What the hell! Do you sit through that _every_ day, Nacchan?!"

"Uh..." Nagisa pats the brunette's shoulder to show her sympathy. "Sorry for making you sit through that, Naruru."

"Aww, but it was fun," Meiko pouts. "Meiko should've tried for a prep school."

"Well, sorry I'm not as smart as you," Naruko rolls her eyes, no real bite behind her words.

"Eh?! Meiko did not say that! Naruru is smart! In her own way! Meiko is smart in the way that won't benefit in life," Meiko flushes, grabbing Naruko's arm. "Naruuuuuruuuu!"

"I'll walk you guys home," Nagisa raises her voice to be heard over Meiko's screams.

"Yes..." Chihiro says in a distant tone.

Really, it is better if she walks with the three. Chihiro's obviously too dazed to do much except stare into space, and Nagisa's fifty-four percent sure that Meiko and Naruko can't find their way home from here.

Glancing around, Nagisa catches sight of Terasaka.

He'd planned an assassination...it'd only be polite for her to tell him...

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"I'll have to send them home," Nagisa apologises to Terasaka and Korosensei, unable to help with the assassination at all.

"Everyone has to be there," Terasaka snaps. "The less people, he's gonna get away."

"I can't," Nagisa says stubbornly.

"Just send your boyfriend," Terasaka snarls.

"I can't," Nagisa repeats.

And Terasaka grabs Nagisa's collar, his eyes narrowed, and he screams, spittle flying into her face. "Ya gonna run away?! Ya little coward!"

"Get your hands off Nacchan, asshole!" Naruko shouts, suddenly rushing onto the scene.

"You wanna fight?!" Terasaka yells, tossing Nagisa aside.

"Yeah! You're probably too much of a cheesecake to punch a girl!" Naruko snaps, jamming the heel of her shoe into the ground. In a second, her foot pops out, and her shoe flies into her hand.

"Naruru!" Nagisa yelps.

"Says you! You're probably going to use the excuse that you _are_ a girl when I hit'cha!" Terasaka snaps.

"Can it, ****face," Naruko spits, and Nagisa's hands fly to her mouth. "I'll play fair if you will, ******."

Nagisa gasps.

"Foul mouth," Terasaka watches Naruko warily, then the brunette lunges for him, throwing her shoe first.

Nagisa will say this for Naruko.

After years of trying to pick fights with Karma, Naruko is extremely nimble.

As she lunges, Terasaka swings at her, but Naruko manages to squat, and swing her shooed foot towards Terasaka's ankles, clearly trying to knock him over.

When Terasaka only grunts, Naruko instead jams her elbow into his stomach.

Howling with pain, Terasaka grabs Naruko's long curly hair and lifts her, socking her across the face.

Naruko coughs, and spits to the side, grinning manically and swinging her legs to Terasaka, kicking the back of his head. He makes a disgruntled noise, and grabs her ankle, dropping the rest of her to the ground. He aims for her stomach, but she swings herself up on both hands like a gymnast, managing to free her ankle from Terasaka's grip, and tries another round of kicks. Terasaka anticipates this, however, and grabs her ankles, twist them, and knee her in the stomach, before preparing to sick her..

And Naruko lets out a swear word.

"That stings like a bitch," She grins, and lets out a _sound_ when Terasaka hits her in the face.

"You aren't one to talk, bi-" Terasaka doesn't manage to finish his sentence before Naruko makes use of Terasaka's grip on her ankles.

She hoists herself up, her ankles still in Terasaka's grip, and _headbutts_ the boy.

"Holy ****," Nagisa mentally censors Terasaka's words. The taller male tosses Naruko away, staggering back and gripping his now-bleeding nose.

"Toldja you were a cheesecake," Naruko says triumphantly, spitting blood onto the ground.

"Cause a _girl_ shouldn't be able to fight like that!" Terasaka defends himself.

"Well, this _girl_ kicked your ass! Who says you tough? Meiko's meringue woulda held out longer!" Naruko snickers, then whirls to Nagisa, glaring at something behind her. "See that, asshat?"

"See what?" Nagisa jumps. When had Karma gotten behind her? "All I see is a pomeranian who just sat on a lump of muscle."

"A WHAT?!" Naruko and Terasaka shout in unison.

"All right, now that you two are done, please stop," Nagisa sighs, and pulls Naruko to her feet. "Let's get you three home."

"Huh?" Naruko scowls. "Chihiro knows the directions, it'll be fine."

"You mean to say that you don't know your own way home?" Nagisa asks slowly.

"Well, usually I call Chihiro and she picks up me and Meicchi," Naruko shrugs.

Nagisa closes her eyes, and starts counting to ten slowly.

"Wow, and this idiot who doesn't even know where she herself lives thinks that she can beat me up?" Karma snickers. "Poor Hisakawa. It's a wonder that she's still your friend."

"Shut it," Naruko snarls.

Finally, Nagisa reaches ten and opens her eyes. "And that's the situation, Terasaka-kun. I really have to help them. Chihiro's a little out of it today."

"Tch," Terasaka snaps his head away.

"Hah! The idiot can't say nothing!" Naruko crows.

"Says one idiot to another," Karma hums.

Before Naruko can register the insult, Nagisa tugs her friend away from the two boys, dragging her to where Meiko and Chihiro had been left last and...

Oh good lord.

Is Kaede _fighting_ with Meiko?

The two girls are on the ground, pulling each other's hair with vicious expressions.

"Meiko's known her longer!" Meiko shouts, tugging Kaede's hair out of her twintails.

"Well, who gave her that amazing hairstyle?!" Kaede yells.

"D-Don't fight, Kaede-chan," Yukiko tries to diffuse the situation.

Having enough, Nagisa releases Naruko and storms over to Chihiro, shaking the girl (and when that doesn't work) claps her hands in her ear.

Chihiro blinks hazily at Nagisa. "Yes?"

"T-Take this!" Nagisa jumps as she hears Manami's voice behind her, then suddenly, the bespectacled girl is wafting something from a test tube towards Chihiro.

It takes a moment for it to work, but then Chihiro snaps out of her daze, shaking her head. "Ugh, what is that terrible smell?"

"Thank you, Manami-san!" Nagisa exclaims, and sees Chihiro notice the fight going on at her feet.

"ISAKI MEIKO IRENE NATALIA," Chihiro yells. Immediately, Meiko freezes. _Oh dear, Chihiro used Meiko's full_ full _name,_ Nagisa covers her ears. "WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING?!" Even with the sound blockage, Nagisa can still hear Chihiro. _Ah, she must be really angry._ "WE ARE _VISITING STUDENTS_ AND SHOULD NOT BE PICKING FIGHTS WITH THE STUDENTS OF THIS SCHOOL!"

"But she-" Meiko starts, her voice sounding muffled to Nagisa.

"LIKEWISE, YOU...what is your name?" Chihiro pauses in her scolding to ask Kaede.

"K-Kayano Kaede..."

"KAYANO KAEDE-SAN. DO NOT SAY IDIOTIC THINGS TO PROVOKE MEIKO! ALSO _YANAGI_ _NARUKO_! YOU ARE BLEEDING FROM THE FOREHEAD AND FROM YOUR MOUTH! DO SOMETHING ABOUT THAT, WOULD YOU?" Chihiro screeches. "AND MIND TELLING ME EXACTLY _HOW_ YOU RECEIVED THOSE INJURIES?"

"Ah, I...I got int'a fight," Naruko's knees are shaking. "But I won!" She says brightly.

"I DON'T CARE! YOU ARE BRINGING A BAD NAME..." And so on, and so on, for about ten minutes.

By the time Chihiro is done, Nagisa feels extremely terrible for waking Chihiro up from her daze. Naruko and Kaede look cowed, while Meiko, Yukiko, and Manami stare at Chihiro in amazement.

"We will be leaving now," Chihiro bows to Yukiko and Manami and then sweeps away, her inky hair trailing after her as she goes.

"Hey, wait up, bastard!" Naruko shouts as she runs to fetch her bag. "You're the only one who knows the shortcuts to my house!"

"Hiro-tan!" Meiko whines, chasing after Chihiro immediately, forgetting all about her school bag. "Wait for Meiko!"

" _Those_ are your friends?" Nagisa jumps, and spins around, seeing that a crowd had gathered during Chihiro's lecture. The person who posed the question, Nakamura, is standing a little ways away from her, next to Fuwa, and staring in surprise.

"Yes," Nagisa feels defensive. Nakamura, as nice and fun as she is, has no right to insult her friends. "Do you perhaps have a problem with them?"

"Nah," Nakamura stares at after the three girls, a sad look on her face. "The one with black hair..."

"Chihiro?"

"She..." Nakamura sighs, out of character for the bubbly blonde. "She's like..."

When the blonde doesn't continue, Nagisa clears her throat. "She's like...?"

"Nothing," Nakamura loses the sad look, and plasters on a grin. "C'mon! We've got an octopus to kill!"

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Later, Nagisa barely remembers anything that happens.

All she knows is:

After Terasaka's done bossing them all into the pool, Korosensei makes his appearance. Nagisa had sucked in a breath, waiting...

Terasaka points the gun he's holding in the air.

There's a strange light in his eyes.

A smug one.

And he pulls the trigger...

Suddenly, something explodes.

Nagisa screams as she and the rest of her classmates are sucked away, carried with the water.

 _What the actual_ -

But Nagisa is small.

She remembers, distinctly, being dragged _under the water_ a few times, and _..._

Not much else.

The thread of the memory picks up again when Nagisa is on dry land, with little idea as to how she got there. A familar dark jacket is draped over her shoulder, and as she shivers, she pulls it closer around herself. Seems like her concealer had worn off, and her bruises can be seen. She stands at the top of waterfall, with many of her classmates, and below them, Korosensei and Itona face off.

Oh, this is _bad_.

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Ryouma rushes down the side of the mountain, his cheek smarting from where Karma had hit him, his nose stinging from where the brunette bitch had headbutted him.

 _God_...

 _If you've got time to go pointing fingers, try using it to figure out what you want to do here._

He grits his teeth. Stupid redhead. Acting all high and mighty.

 _I always thought, no, believed that I was strong,_ Ryouma scowls, increasing his speed as unwelcome memories resurface. _I set my sights on the weak-looking ones, and dragged them under my thumb. That way, I was sure to win. And that was all I needed to make a place for myself._

 _I didn't fight much, but the fact that I had a loud voice, and a big build, generally worked to my advantage. Everyone thought of me as strong._

 _I was able to study every now and then so I decided to go to a prep school. I didn't think about it, just thought that I'd be able to continuing living as I always had..._

 _But, at this school..._

 _That didn't fly._

He lets out a low growl as he remembers trying to force his classmate to skip, but all that classmate wanted to was to study. He snarls, recalling how he had been jeered at, since here, studying was everything.

 _Look, Terasaka-kun, no one does that here,_ A classmate had told him, _Even the big, bad, leader of the pack is a_ miserable weakling _once he falls into 3E._

And everyone would be able to mock him, bully him.

 _And that's when I realised that the cheap weapons that I had been using were useless. In fact, they'd probably never have a use again. Those guys, studying and shoving their way to a goal would undoubtedly grow up to boss around directionless mooks like me...I couldn't even beat a_ girl _!_

 _I landed in class E, and figured that I could skate alongside my fellow goal-free students, but then.._.Ryouma nearly trips over a root in his anger. _That monster showed up, and gave the class one_ hell _of a purpose. Left behind again, I wound up becoming manipulated and used by some calculating schmuck with a plan._

Ryouma slows, recalling how the gun had been supposed to be a signal, for Itona to push Korosensei into the water.

What a piece of bullshit.

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"He's fast, and he hits hard!" Korosensei narrates, dodging Itona's tentacles.

But not for long.

"Harder than before!" Korosensei lets out an 'omph' sound as Itona manages to land a hit. Nagisa flinches, and feels an arm sling around her. As she peeks over her shoulder, she sees Karma, hugging her damp body to his side.

"You alright?" Karma asks gently.

"Yes," Nagisa shivers slightly, and Karma helps her put on the jacket. Turning her attention back to the fight, she swallows hard as Itona manages yet _another_ hit.

"We reduced the number of tentacles, focusing power and speed on those remaining," Shiro supplies. Nagisa jumps. She hadn't seen the man all in white, standing just a little ways off from Korosensei and Itona. "They're easy enough for a child to control." As if to illustrate his point, Itona begins munching on a banana he had gotten from who-knows-where.

"Those two were behind the explosion?!" Okajima gasps

"Is this for real?!" Kataoka demands, looking as though she wants to jump right in and break up the fight. "Did it really only take that little water to neutralise him?!"

"It ain't just the water," The class gasps as a whole as Terasaka walks up to them, peering at the fight below. "He can't go all out 'coz he just finished savin' y'all. See, look there," Nagisa follows where Terasaka gestures to.

It's a place about halfway up the waterfall cliff (which really isn't that high). Hara clings desperately to a big of overhanging branch, and Yoshida and Muramatsu are balancing on small ledges.

"Whoa! Token Chubster Hara could fall at any second!" Maehara points out.

"You aren't allowed to call girls by that!" Isogai immediately scolds.

"She's pretty heavy and fat, so it's not lookin' good. 'Sos to protect chubby Hara and the rest, Korosensei has to keep and eye on them while fighting," Terasaka surmises.

"We've got to save her!" Fuwa calls desperately.

"Poor Sumire-chan!" Yada whimpers.

"Wait a second...Don't tell me that they roped _you_ into doing this?!" Isogai demands.

The class turns accusing eyes to Terasaka.

"That's right," not even denying it, Terasaka shuts his eyes. "Shortsighted guys with no vision and no goals, like me, are doomed to be played around by smart guys like them."

"'Bout time you realised," Karma hums, releasing Nagisa to glare at Terasaka.

"But you know...at least let me chose who gets to pull my strings. I've had it with those jokers, and I sure don't want them running away with the prize money!" Terasaka grins, walking to Karma and pressing his fist against his shoulder. "So, Karma, why don't _you_ try controlling me."

"Oh, don't encourage him," Nagisa mumbles.

Karma turns to Terasaka, his face impassive.

"Gimme a strategy out of that shrewd noggin' of yours," Terasaka says determinedly. "I'll pull it off and rescue them."

"Fine by me, but can you even handle one of my plans?" Karma smirks, and Nagisa silently sends a prayer to the gods for Terasaka's safety. To everyone's surprise, Karma drags his hand down Terasaka's shirtfront, popping the buttons out of their buttonholes so that Terasaka's chest and stomach are exposed to the world. He smirks, revealing a single, sharp canine. "It might be the death of you."

"Oh, I'll do it. I'm a perpetrator who gets results," Terasaka mirrors Karma's smirk.

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"Time for the killing blow, Itona," Shiro directs.

Nagisa has no idea what Karma's plan is. Whatever the case, she hopes that it will work.

From the waterfall top, Terasaka leaps down, calling loudly. "Hey!"

"Terasaka-kun?" Shiro turns to face the tanned boy, tilting his white cloaked head curiously.

"You tricked me good!" Teraska snarls.

"Don't be upset," Nagisa can hear the amusement lacing Shiro's tone. "All you did was get your classmates in trouble. Perfect for a misfit of the famed E class."

"Shut up! I ain't gonna forgive ya for what you did!" Terasaka removes his clothes.

"It's like a strip show..." Fuwa mumbles, sounding surprisingly normal.

Running within reach of Itona's tentacles, Terasaka brandishes his shirt at Itona, the same way a bull fighter would use a red cloak against a bull. "Itona, you and me! one on one!"

"Terasaka-kun, stop that!" Korosensei yelps, alarmed. "He's not someone you can win against!"

"Stay out of this, octopuff!" Terasaka yells, sounding aggravated.

"What a hero," Shiro laughs delicately into his palm. If not for his voice, Nagisa might have believed that Shiro is actually a girl. His gestures are very feminine. "Shut him up, Itona," Shiro says suddenly, completely serious.

"Karma!" Nagisa grabs the redhead's arm.

"It's alright," Karma responds easily. "Shiro's not out to get us students. If I had to guess, he's specifically trying to ensure that we don't get hurt. It's only because we're alive that Korosensei gets distracted. Hara-san looks like she's in danger, but Itona's attacks won't be aimed at her. It's just like what I told Terasaka. He'll hit you with a tentacle hard enough to knock you out, but that as fast an powerful as it will get," As Nagisa watches, Terasaka gets hit, right square in the center of his shirt. "So hold on for dear life," To her amazement, Terasaka curls around the tentacle a little, wrapping his shirt around it, then looks up with the biggest shark-tooth smirk Nagisa has seen. Itona looks mildly surprised.

"You held up well," Shiro praises. "Itona, give him another one."

Itona draws back his tentacle, prepares to hit and-

A-CHEW

-sneezes.

Shiro seems surprised.

"Terasaka's still wearing the shirt he was wearing yesterday," Karma explains. "Which means that it got hit point blank with whatever was that weird thing in the spray. ANd that's sure to have an effect on Itona," Nagisa peers down at Terasaka and Itona, watching the silver-haired boy as he sneezes and sneezes. "So with that opening in his defence, our octopus has time to rescue Hara-san," Itona stares at his tentacle, which is starting to leave silvery goo, and then starts when Korosensei lands in the shallow pool again, Hara safely in his tentacles.

WIth a growing grin, Karma gestures for the class to move towards the edge of the cliff.

"Yoshida! Muramatsu!" Terasaka shouts. "Give me a real big one!" He splashes the water a little.

"Seriously?" Yoshida laughs.

"Jeez," Muramatsu lets out a bemused sigh.

"His weaknesses are the same as Korosensei, right?" Karma reminds them. "So all we have to do is give him a taste of his own medicine," at that, Karma signals thumbs down.

The class exchanges looks, then jumps in as a whole, the girls giggling as them land in the water with a giant _SPLASH_. Nagisa smiles, and follows after them, tugging Karma down.

(Karma somehow manages to land with cat-like agility on a large rock overhanging the small stream while Nagisa lands in the water, drenching Karma's jacket)

Together, the class splashes and kicks water at Itona laughing loudly as they do. _Looks like they're having fun,_ Nagisa giggles, squirting water at the light haired boy. In a matter of seconds, Itona is completely soaked, and his tentacles swollen.

"You've absorbed a lot, I see," Karma says in amusement, crouching on his rock. "Your advantage is shrinking..." Turning to Shiro Karma gives him a pleasant, polite smile. "So, what now? Well, we don't want you to get the prize money. Plus your plans almost got us killed, and Terasaka got beaten down in the process (don't mind that to be honest)," Karma mutters the last few words under his breath. "Anyway, if you want to keep going, we're going to have a hardcore splash party," Itona spins around, realising that the class has surrounded him and have objects that hold water - a plastic bag here, a wet branch there - and he growls.

"Well, you got us. We withdraw," Shiro says after a pause, turning around. "If we were to slaughter all these children, who knows how his antimatter organs would run amok..."

Nagisa blinks.

 _Antimatter_?

"Let's go, Itona."

Itona looks as though he's about to explode, when Korosensei speaks up. "Well? Didn't you have fun with your class? Why not join us for real this time?"

At that, Itona growls softly, and leaps out of the water, following Shiro.

"Itona-kun!" Itona seems to start slightly, and Nagisa's head snaps around, looking at Kurahashi.

The orange-haired girl looks determined.

"You don't have to throw your lot in with Shiro! If you join our class, even if you're not a nice guy, you'd find a nice place to belong!" Kurahashi yells.

"Join our class, it's always fun here!" Yada calls, her hands cupped around her mouth. "You don't seem like a bad kid!"

Itona turns, and stares at the two girls with no emotion on his face.

"There are probably a _lot_ of people in our class you'd like," Seeming pleased that Itona is looking at them, Kurahashi stands a little straighter. "We'll welcome you, no problem!"

"How can you be so sure?" Itona asks. Only the wording indicates that it is even a question. "How do you know who I'd like? How can you be so sure that I am not a bad person? How do you know that it's always fun? Fun times always end, and afterwards it's just sadness. How do you-"

"Itona, come," Shiro calls, quite a bit ahead.

Cutting himself off, Itona continues walking.

However, Nagisa sees Yada and Kurahashi exchange looks. Together, the two girls cup their hands around their mouths and shout as loudly as they can. "THERE'LL ALWAYS BE A SPACE FOR YOU IN CLASS E!"

And Itona flinches.

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"We managed to drive them off," Sugino says, suddenly.

"Good thing we managed to save you lives, huh? Korosensei?" Okano teases.

"Nurufufufufufufu," Korosensei waggles his swollen tentacles around. "I certainly appreciate it, but I still had some tricks up my sleeves."

Nagisa jumps as someone taps her shoulder. When she turns, she sees that it's only Karma, leaning down from his rock.

"Watch Hara-san," Karma smirks, and to her surprise, he _picks her up_ and sets her on the rock next to him.

"That reminds me, Terasaka-kun," Hara is saying, standing behind Terasaka, her face a mask of calm as she sets a hand on the boy's shoulder. "You said some harsh things about me just now. That I was heavy? And fat? And a 'token chubster'?"

"I-" Terasaka takes a few steps away from the livid girl, putting his hands up to increase the gap between them. "I was just...examining the situation at hand objectively!"

"Keep your excuses!" Hara screeches, looking absolutely furious and ready to murder. "I'll show you just _what_ an assassin trained fatty can do!"

"Hu hu hu!" Karma snickers as Hara backs Terasaka into the rock Karma and Nagisa are on. "You really are tactless, Terasaka! No wonder you always get taken advantage of!"

"Shut up, Karma! You don't get to sit up there talkin' down to me!" Terasaka snaps. Reaching up, he grabs Karma's collar and tosses the redhead into the water.

"Haaaarrrrhhh?" Karma leaps to his feet, dripping with water, and his expression is full of disbelief. " _This_ is how you treat your boss?!"

"Karma," Nagisa passes a hand over her forehead. Oh lord.

"My boss?! HUH?!" Terasaka points an accusatory finger at Karma. "What kinda boss make someone take a tentacle to the chin?! For a world class slacker, you sure scored a sweet part in this!"

"I was just thinking the same thing," Kataoka voices, walking over with Nakamura in tow.

"Why not take this chance to sling a little mud~" Nakamura sings, her eyes turning mischievous.

As soon as she says that, Maehara and Nakamura tackle Karma into the water, giggling manically as they ruffle his hair and mix it with the river water.

Oh dear, Nagisa thinks. Karma's quite fond of his hair, even if he doesn't show it.

"Terasaka-kun isn't good at strategizing," Korosensei hums, and Nagisa jumps, not noticing the teacher next to her. Without any reaction, however, Korosensei begins to wring the moisture from himself. "His strengths come from when he's out in the field. He makes himself and others shine with his might and ability of getting things done. I look forward to seeing him grow into an action styled assassin."

 _Terasaka-kun's pretty violent, but I'm glad that he's adjusted well to our class_ , Reaching down, Nagisa taps Nakamura, who's busy splashing Karma in the face, and Maehara's shoulders.

"Hmm?" They turn to face Nagisa.

Before they can react, Nagisa pounces on Nakamura, knocking over Maehara, who is standing behind the blonde, as well.

 _And while we don't show it, Karma and I...and the rest of the class, we're all..._

"Nagisa! You _evil_ vixen!" Nakamura howls, rubbing the back of her head. It seems as though her head had knocked into Maehara's when she fell.

"That isn't like you, squirt!" Maehara complains, grabbing his nose. "Yuma! Did I break my nose?!"

 _...Really happy about that._

"Your nose is fine, Hiroto," Isogai sighs, and lifts Nagisa from Nakamura. "I know you're annoyed with how they're treating Karma, so if you could...please just stay calm."

"Oh, I'm not upset about that," Nagisa smiled placidly, rubbing her hands (that are hidden in the sleeves of Karma's jacket) together. Jeez, his jacket was huge on her. Why _had_ she done that, anyway...? "I mean to jump down, and I misaimed...I think..."

"That ' _I think'_ is so vague," Nakamura whines. "So not cute!"

 _But we were so happy, we overlooked it..._

"Karma!" Nagisa races over to Karma, who twists away from Terasaka (who had been trying to dunk him), and throws her arms around him. " _Omega good job_ ," She says cheerfully, pecking on the cheeks.

"SO CUTE!" Fuwa screams. " _B-Boyfriendo shiruto(_ Boyfriend shirt)!"

"NOSEBLEED!" Nakamura squeals, seeming to have forgiven Nagisa.

"It's a jacket, but the appeal is there!" Okajima agrees.

 _What the heck are they even talking about,_ Nagisa thinks, tilting her head.

 _...Weaker than water..._

"Thanks, Nadeshiko," Karma smiles, and leans down so that their foreheads touch.

 _...Korosensei's weakest point._

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 ** _Finally finished._**

 ** _Oh geez._**

 ** _Sorry it took so long, it was mostly laziness + homework, then then_ incident _that I will mention below so this is roughly a week late._**

 ** _Oh, I closed the poll XD You can see the results on my profile (I think)_**

 **Also, Gakushuu's arc is coming up-**

 **A warning: I might end up rewriting most of the chapter, because looking for places to insert things would take up too much _words_**

 **Slightly long author's note:**

 **I had a really strange experience a while ago. As in, a few days ago. I've been in a weird mood since (but I'm always in a weird mood, so...)**

 **Anyway, the country I live in is a multiracial one and we get along pretty well for the most part.**

 **But it was really weird.**

 **So I went to watch a movie with my cousin (a boy) and my sister (a girl, obviously).**

 **My sister and I go to the same school, and it's a religious school (but we're not, sorry to disappoint). We happened to be in uniform when we went to watch the movie, so...**

 **I went in first, because my cousin was trying to barter for more chocolate on his churros and my sister was trying to order her chicken nuggets around my cousin's 'But there's no chocolate here!'s and stuff.**

 **So there was a hallway, and theatres on each side. Ours was number six, near the end, and as I was walking down, this guy-person-thing comes out, stares at me, stares at my uniform, and then stares at my face. So I'm wondering 'huh? What are you staring at?' But because I'm in school uniform (And in my country, everyone knows all the school uniforms by some magic and any complaints result in a school wide scolding) I only bow a little and carry on.**

 **But this **** _grabs_ my arm, makes me look at him, then says. "You're from _ school, right?"**

 **And I don't really have much interaction with guys other than people who are related to me, so this asshat (pardon my swearing) grabbing me made me reflexively twist out his grip and almost kicked him (but I remembered in time, thankfully) and so we just stare at each other.**

 **Then he goes on a rant on how my school is filled with homosexuals or homosapiens or homophobic people who burn books considered satanic and hold torture affairs for pokemon or something (I was busy trying not to get spit on my face. [That's sarcasm]) and it was really weird because he just kept ranting and ranting and he mixed in cantonese and chinese and some of the slang we use in my country. Even when I held up my hands between him and I, he still kept rating and broadcasting how much _he hates my school_ and the _people in it,_ and how we're all _judgemental shitholes who think that they're better than everyone_. And also: ' _Hypocrital religious bitches who don't know their right from their left'_ and I'm mentally shouting 'I'M NOT EVEN RELIGIOUS AND CHRIST YOUR BREATH STINKS GO JUMP INTO MY GRANDMA'S HOUSE CUZ SHE'LL CURSE AT YOU SO STRONG THAT YOU WILL REGRET DOING SOMETHING SO PREJUDICE AND LIKE LFNBHEBGSLDRLJG' *clears throat* I mean, and it's super awkward for me because I _can't_ freaking _do_ anything, because I'm in _school uni_ and he stares like crowding me into a wall and it gets worse especially since I'm like holding a soft drink in one hand and I _really_ wanted to pour it on him (i was so close. so. damn. close)**

 **Because I was near the end of the corridor, the few people walking by ignored what was going on cause it looked like bad break up or something? Also, the guy wasn't shouting, he was using a scary-calm voice and it was so weird.**

 **And _finally_ my cousin swerves to the rescue.**

 **Seriously.**

 **He calmly grabs the guy-person-thing's arm and yanks him away from me (he's about my height, though he's two years younger). And he calmly just goes. "'Scuse."**

 **And he's _also_ in school uniform.**

 **Fact is: My cousin goes to one of the best schools in my city, so...yeah.**

 **The guy kinda looks him over, then starts on what a pretentious bastard my cousin is being and how all the guys in his school are all 'massive assholes who think they can do anything to everyone,' and then my _sister_ comes out of nowhere, checks the corridor to see if anyone is watching (most people went in for their movies, so there's no one) then she _knees the guy in the groin_ and calmly goes 'Don't bully my sister', takes the drink I'm carrying and loudly stomps into the cinema while sipping it.**

 **So yeah.**

 **Weird experience.**

 **Especially so because I haven't heard my school badmouthed so badly before and even now I still feel weird.**

 **ok, a quick review reply, then I'm posting this ish.**

 **Chapter 15:**

 _ **Xenocanaan:** I'm glad you liked it (and that it was funny) :3 Hope you liked this too, though it was a little weird_

 ** _GingerHale:_** _They have...*looks away* nutty friends._ Really _nutty friends. I'm glad that your dog likes them, he deserves a pat on the head. Shuu-chan arc will appear in the next chapter (Sorry for the lateness) I'm really pleased that I made you feel happier, and I have no idea if you misspelled anything. Hope you're feeling better._

 ** _OneWhoCharms:_** _Prepare for spoilers, then? Since I'm basing this off the manga_ and _the anime._

 ** _TheJubilations:_** _You were?! That makes me feel really happy XD Unfortunately, Naruko isn't skilled enough to beat Karma yet :P But she's just about crafty and flexible enough to beat Terasaka. Sorry for the late update I'm pretty inconsistent. I need to start a plan and a quota._

 ** _Azuria1:_** _Thank you! Yes, I add a little...(too much) personalisation into my story, huh;; Karma and Nagisa are OTP, of couse :3 Oh! Sorry, Megu's in class C! I didn't notice! also, your english is quite good! It's better than some of my friend's._

 ** _Kirika o7:_** _HAHAHAHA Thank you XD So very much._

 ** _Amaya Kuruta:_** _Oh, I hope you're better now! You'd_ better _be better now! The last one isn't too different lol XD But I, too, want to see Hayami in a mermaid costume. She'd look so pretty! And imagine Chiba dressed like a fish XD Nagisa gets embarrassed over weird things, :P Sorry, I tend to cringe at love triangles too, but GYAH, I've long decided that I will suck it up. Don't worry, because...because well, I really over love triangles. The bruises...well, I guess they'd heal, but until then, she'll be hiding them. *hug*_

 ** _Lyn29:_** _Thanks ^^ I have fun doing this the backstory things :P And like, well, I'm very pleased that you like this a lot! I'm always happy when someone tells me that they like this! I'm honestly not that creative, but thank you all the same :3_

 ** _Guest:_** _(marshmallow? Potato?): haha, sorry, sorry It snowed there? I've never had snow where I lived. I've seen it, of course, but it's a different kind seeing as to personally experiencing it. Haha, most of what I get is from online (SHHH DON'T TELL ANYONE) Haha, glad you remembered. Kokona...it's ok, she'll get her justly dues from Naruko...right below! I like Nagisa's elementary school friends (puffs out chest) mostly 'cuz they're based off my friends and I. Guess which one I am :3 I'll think about making original chapters. It sounds like fun, but might be a little awkward to fit in. Nagisa_ knows _about Karma's family, but not really everyone else does. Maybe he'll tell. One day. Nagisa's...boobs...bigger...? Uh, it is a little bit of a strange request...I'll...uh, look into it? I don't know. Where I live, and in the school I go to it's kinda weird for me to see a girl my own age whose chest is actually...prominent. As in...beyond the A cup. I kinda based Nagisa off that. I'm glad you liked the last chapter ^^_

 ** _Proud-to-be-a-panda:_** _Firstly: I LOVE PANDAS {and I'm typing wth only one hand;;) THeY'RE So cootew! Seconsly, i will never abandon this! never! I'm glad that you're a permanent fan! I'm really glad!_

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 _Short interruption to just...srsly. To everyone who's still reading this...I love you guys. I'm not very dependable, but I will continue to try my best_

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 **OK, I'm going to skip the chapter 16 well-wishes (but thank you so much!) I had a really good time with my relatives! We almost burnt the kitchen at one point, but they were all so loud and full, so it was strange to return home.**

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 _Ch **apter 18:**_

 ** _Demon Lord Luciela:_** _Thank you XD_

 ** _TheJubilations:_** _Reading a play-by-play of your reactions makes me really pleased for some reason (lol beacuase it's really cute XD) and HAHA your poor family XD Hope you liked this :3_

 _ **TamashinoSuzume:** You and my sister both XD She's been naggine me the whole time. 'Post your chapter _now!' _'Put Gakushuu in!' 'Screw relaxing, write, you thing!' and so one. I am afraid I can't answer your questions *straight face* Wait for the interpretation!_

 _ **Kirika o7:** Hu hu hu hu XD_

 ** _ViperTimeline:_** _Nice!_

 ** _Misty Crystal:_** _Haha, so many curly linesss~~ i'm glad you thought it was amazing! Nagisa and Karma always have fun together ~ And it_ is _quite Karma like to jump out of a window. Funny how you expected it :3 They are very cute *nods solemly* very the very cute._

 ** _Princess630:_** _Thank you! I'm so glad I helped XD Oh, thank you again! A f-five star *turns red* oh wow..._

 ** _Marshmallow:_** _WHOA CHILD ARE YOU ALRIGHT? ... Haha, no problem (Fangasm...LOL XD) Thank you so much! Hm, I'm really not fond of shipping OC's with chatacters, but I'll consider it. As my sister nags 'there really isn't a need for everyone to have a date! They're fourteen!', but I'll really consider it. How many chapters...to be honest, I thought that there'd be a hundred... *looks away* but yeah, it's going to be a lot of chapters...*grimace* *brightens* this may very well be fun! I haven't died in school (but sweated enough to drown a tall bear) and jsfabsgiabwgr Oh! Happy late birthday! Hope it was fun!_

 ** _DragonHero:_** _Haha, glad to hear that XD (Chapter 5,btw)_

 ** _Guest:_** _Nurufufufufufufufufufu_

 ** _DragonHero:_** _Yay! You love it XD (THEY ARE SO CUTE TOGETHER! IT'S UNREAL) I...I am not sure...I'll...cross that bridge when I get to it. LOL ALL THE HASHTAGS #KarmaandNagisaareOTP #Whydidn'tthey_ date _? #WHYYYYY #Karmagisa4life #melikeshashtagstoo_

 ** _AnimeQueenMaya:_** _haha, it's continued here ^^_

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 _Extras 1:_

 _Naruko and Kokona (Alternate title: Naruko and that bitch of a neighbour [Pardon her french])_

 _Warning: Swearing! (also, OC centric and in first person)_

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 ** _Report: The encounter: (Filed in the 'things that happened this week' book that the four friends share, by Yanagi Naruko)_**

 _ **Who?** The people involved were me and that bitch of a neighbour, Kokona. _

_**What?** A terrible encounter that left Kokona with scars and me with the heebie-jeebies_

 _ **When?** It was a while after that bastard Karma and Nacchan had stolen Kokona's bed...a long while? Whatever. I'm rubbish with time. But it was evening. Around seven_

 _ **Where?** The elevator of my housing block._

 _ **Why?** Because Kokona is a bitch_

 _ **How?** Read above_

 **The full story:** _I, well, seriously. It wasn't my fault. I don't give a shit what you say, Chihiro. Seriously. It wasn't my fault. That bitch Kokona had been, glaring at me the whole time. Coz, like, well. I got a '5' on my Jap lit, and a 4 on my Math shit and I could see her report card in her hand and HAHAHA she had a 1 in lit and a 2 in MATH HAHAHAHAHAHA_

[A post it, pasted over the words 'MATH HAHAHAHAHAHA': _Naruko, a 2 in math at Kunigigaoka is worth a 4 in normal schools. And for lit, a one is worth a 3 -Chihiro]_

 _So she stared at the report card I was so blatantly waving in her face and then she snatches it and rips it up. And then I just stare at her, then snicker._

 _And I go "Didn't you flunk all your subs?"_

 _And Kokona, that_ bitch _goes "At least I didn't have to sleep with any teachers to get good grades!"_

 _Like the awesome shit I am, I say. "Bitch, I'm fifteen, I sure as hell am not gonna be sleeping with no one. 'Sides, like who would screw with_ you _?"_

 _"Please, I am so much prettier than you will ever be."_

 _And I'm not arguing. I'm sure about a hundred boys confess to her everyday or some shit like that, so I carry on walking._

 _On a side note- Meiko, chihiro, I am so not pretty, stop saying it. It's annoying._

 _Anyway, so I'm like, walking and minding my own shit even though this_ [This word has been censored by the help of an inky pen] _tore up my grade card and my mom's like, not gonna believe me,_ buuuuuut _this fricking_ thing _starts whispering insults and when she gets to 'cheating' I have had_ enough _._

 _It_ really _wasn't my fault, Chihiro. She was insulting you and Meiko._

 _Anyway, she carried on with her insults, that salty little_ [This word has been censored with the help of an inky pen] _and when she gets to Nacchan, and how she's dating Karma only for her grades, ugh, how does she even know about Nacchan?! Well, whatever, I'm ready to like, graffite her house and burn her bed, put thumbtacks in her shoe, and glue banana peels to the soles of her shoes._

[A post it note over the word 'graffite' reads: _It's graffiti! If that girl insulted Naruru and Nacchan, Meiko will help ruin her house! Meiko will, really! -Meiko_

A post it note on _top_ of that reads: _Don't encourage Naruko, Meiko. - Chihiro_ ]

 _And so we may or may not have entered the lift then. I threw my school bag at the camera, watched it break, then whooped that bitch's ass._

 _She deserved it._

 _Plus she was so_ weak _! I had so much leftover energy, I made casadillas, fried rice, pig trotter rice and about twenty dishes for a hot pot._

[A post it note over 'casadillas' reads: _Quesadillas, Naruko]_

 _We had so much food, my mom summoned Meiko's and Chihiro's fam over for dinner._

 _SO YEAH, that's why I have the weird long like, scratch mark on my face. It's from that little_ [This word has been censored with help of an inky pen] _scratching me. She bit me, too. I have to go disinfect my shouler._

 _Anywho, that's the whole story!_

 _And it wasn't my fault!_

[A post it over the above sentence reads: _Naruko, please be more careful. Meiko, Chihiro and I always worry about you, alright? Don't pick fights - Shiota Nagisa]_

 _\- Yanagi Naruko_

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 _Extras 2:_

 _On Itona, after the fight_

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Itona sits on the branch of a tall tree, outside of the hotel that he and Shiro are staying in.

The moon is especially round tonight.

As he stares, he recalls the words of the Octopus. _"Didn't you have fun with your class?"_

 _..._

 _How could he have?_

They'd splashed him, but it had been like a battle. They'd given him distrusting looks, and glared. They'd _said_ that they didn't want him to have the money...

Screw them.

True, they aren't aware of his...situation, Itona shudders as he thinks of his father, with his kind eyes and wonderful smile, of his mother, who cried and cried and refused to leave him...

He shudders as he develops a headache.

He can't join the class.

Not until he beats that octopus.

He has to.

 _Ten billion..._ Itona shuts his eyes. He could start his father's business again. He could hire people, pay them enough so that they won't go to other companies. Live comfortably.

 _Get his family back.._.

 _Alright, that's enough fantasising for tonight,_ Itona decides, hopping off the tree. He has training to do.

Still, whenever he closes his eyes, he can hear the yell of the two girls.

 _There will always be a spot in Class E for you!_

Unknowingly, Itona smiles.

He'll have somewhere to fall back on, then.

(Unfortunately, as soon as he thinks that, he feels a sharp throb of pain from his head. _Concentrate_ , the tentacles whisper to him. _We have an octopus to kill.)_

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 _Extras 3:_

 _What happened to Terasaka?!_

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"Uwah, you look like shit!"

Nagisa turns at those words, seeing Yoshida and Muramatsu staring at Terasaka in shock.

Sure enough, his eyes are both swollen and he has eye bags, not to mention that his face is all bruised. His nose seems still battered from his fight with Naruko the other day, but still, what had happened to him?

"Terasaka-kun, are you alright?" Kurahashi asked worriedly, approaching the bulky boy.

"'m f'ne," Terasaka sulks.

"Like hell you are," Yoshida splutters. "You shoulda stayed at home!"

"'an't. 'Ook l'ke ''m rum'ing 'way," He grumbles out, his words barely understandable. "'sides, 'll g't 'ursed 'f i st'yed h'me."

"Cursed?!" Muramatsu gapes. "But only Hazama-"

"It's his karma," Hazama announces, throwing open the door of the classroom and walking to her desk. "I almost got hurt, as did most of our class. I put a curse on his room."

Yoshida and Muramatsu stare at her with slack jaws.

"G-Good morning, Hazama-san," Nagisa says slowly.

"And he doesn't want to admit that he had gotten beaten up by Karma and Hara yesterday," Hazama settles herself in her chair, giving Nagisa a deep nod before opening a thick book. "And that disgustingly pretty brunette yesterday."

"Sh't 'p," Terasaka snarls.

"But why?" Nagisa blinks, tilting her head at Hazama.

"Because he put you in danger, and he insensitively called Hara fat," Hazama shrugs. "And I was pissed so I put a curse on his room. And a handful of cockroaches and maybe a tarantula. And perhaps also an alarm clock that plays the sound of a scream every two hours."

...

The class stares in horror at Hazama.

 _Lesson of the day: Never piss Hazama Kirara off._

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	18. Chapter 17

**_Timeline of my writing: (Feel free to ignore :P this is for my own reference and motivation/guilttripping_**

 **Late January:**

 _Psh, this is easy. Let's put the foundation down... 3k words added_

 **Early February:**

 _I take it back. What was I writing? Shizzlesticks... 500 words added_

 **Late February:**

 _Meh, WRITE EVEN IF IT'S CRAP! I CAN EDITED LATER! 1k words added._

 **March 6th:**

 _I wrote this? Goodness it's terrible. 983 words removed_

 **March 13th:**

 _Holidays soon...you better write your butt off!_ _1k words added_

 **March 16th:**

 _I ever found this hard? Whoppppp! 2k words added_

 **March 18th:**

 _YOU BETTER WORK ON THIS YOU PIECE OF SHIT ~ Love from, my sister. (She'd be more embarrassed if I left it there) 200 words added_

 **March 20th:**

 _I. Feel. Dead. 500 words added_

 **March 23rd:**

 _OH MY GOD KOROSENSEI'S BLOWING UP DAY PASSED TEN DAYS AGO AND I DIDN'T NOTICE I'M TERRIBLE! 3k or so words added_

 **April 1st** :

 _*muffled screaming into pillow* It's Prince Tsubasa, Tsubasa Li, Watanuki Kimihiro, Sakura Li and Syaoran Li's birthday! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH 500 words added_

 **April 2nd-3rd:**

 _Oh god. Oh god ohgodohgodohgodohgod. 4k words added_

 ** _I'm really sorry for the long delay, you are permitted to scold me all you want *squirms* coz it's my own fault...well, here you go!_**

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 _No one can beat Karma_ or _Shuu-chan!_

 _..._

 _Or can they?_

 ** _OR_**

 _Finals Time!_

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 _It's finals time._

 _In Kunugigaoka, grades are everything (sarcastic 'yay'ing!)_

 _A miserable future as a loser (Gasps of shock) awaits the human garbage who can't reach the average!_

 _...Who knows how the E Class would do?  
_

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"You've got the basics down cold from the first semester, students!" Korosensei calls, holding an outdoor studying session with the class in a clearing. He had split into his afterimages, one each for every student, and had one in the center for announcements (and one resting on a deck chair). "At this rate, I expect your results to shoot right up!"

Nagisa jumps as Korosensei beams at her. "Understand the structure now, Nagisa-san?"

"Yes...but the Japanese written English exams really phrase questions weirdly," Nagisa sighs, setting aside her pen.

"Tell me about it!" Nakamura shouts across the clearing. "It's so different from England, right?"

"A little," Nagisa agrees.

"Well, you will have to adapt," Korosensei shrugs.

"Korosensei, do you want us to make top fifty again?" Nagisa asks, blinking as she stares at the kanji. Mindlessly, she write an english translation above it. _Quote the evidence..._

"No, I was too focus on your total score for midterms," Korosensei holds up two flashcards, reading, rather appropriately, _'Total Count'._ "I've come to believe that each student should have a target better suited to themselves," now, the flashcards read ' _Fit Target_ '. "And that's why I've come up with the perfect target for our assassination classroom." From Korosensei's mouth, eleven flash cards pop out. _L-U-C-K-Y C-H-A-N-C-E._ It reminds Nagisa of a slot machine.

"D-Don't worry, Terasaka-kun! Even you have a chance of reaching it!" Korosensei splutters frantically, his afterimages patting Terasaka, who looks vexed.

"As you all know," Korosensei stops at the center of the clearing and announces. "When I lose a tentacle, my speed decreases," Korosensei shoots off a tentacle (do not think of tofu, Nagisa tells herself) and immediately splits into his afterimages. A clear, drastic change can be seen. "As you can see, even _one_ tentacle makes a difference," Korosensei narrates. Nagisa starts as a small Korosensei after image, about hip high, flickers past her. "I can't keep up the quality of my pictures, and there are a few child images mixed in."

"So _that's_ how images are reduced," Nagisa says in wonder.

"Reduce yet another tentacle," Korosensei shot off another. "And you get even _more_ child images!" A collection of Korosensei-afterimages-dressed-as-children dash past Yukiko and Manami. "With parents, fretting about how to make ends meet." A collection of Korosensei-afterimages-dressed-as-adults gather in one side of the clearing.

From across the clearing, Nagisa sees Isogai pull his knees to his chest, his expression pained.

"This has taken a heartbreaking turn," Nagisa mumbles.

"Lose yet another..." Korosensei shoots of a third tentacle. Somehow, he creates a scene, a Korosensei-afterimage-dressed-as-a-woman, and three Korosensei-afterimages-dressed as children gathered around a door, staring after a Korosensei-afterimage-dressed as a man, his back to the other afterimages as he walks away. "And now the father image has vanished, leaving the mother image behind to raise her children on her own."

 _That's just-_ Nagisa scrunches up her face.

"That's not funny," Maehara suddenly snaps.

All eyes turn to Maehara.

"Maehara?" Okajima asks.

"Don't tell stories like that as a gag," Maehara says angrily, rising to his feet. With that, he walks to Isogai, sitting down next to the dark-haired boy and putting an arm around him.

As Nagisa watches them, her eyes trail across her classmates. Hazama looks a little paler than usual, so Nagisa gets up and sits next to the other female, hoping that her simply being there can help somehow.

"My apologies, Maehara-kun," Korosensei says sincerely, coming to a stop in the center of the clearing once more. "The point is, each tentacle lost reduces my movement capacity by about ten percent. Therefore, here's the deal: Each student who achieves a top score, either overall or in an individual subject, will have a right to destroy a tentacle."

The class gasps.

"This is our final exam for our assassination classroom: Can you get any closer to the ten billion yen bounty?" Korosensei smirks, wide and smug. "That, my students, is up to you."

 _This teacher,_ Nagisa smiles to herself as she feels the bloodlust of her classmates. _Really knows how to motivate us!_

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Karasuma lets Irina do the talking when they enter the Board Chairman's office.

"A man who would do _anything_ to keep Class E where it is..." The Board Chairman asks, taking the matter a lot better than Karasuma had thought he would. He simply sits at his chair, gazing out of the large glass that made up one of his walls. "Is that what you think of me?"

"Oh, no," Irina says with a little wink, using a flirtatious voice, as she fusses with her hair. "But Mr Grumpy Pants here wouldn't listen."

Karasuma managed to keep himself from letting out an annoyed growl. Irina had been the one to insist on their visit, but the Board Chairman did not need to know that.

"Well, I'm sorry that you had to take time off to come here to warn me," The Board Chairman hums. "But rest assured - I wouldn't even dream of getting in their way." Hopping out of his chair, he walks to the glass wall, looking down at his school, his empire. "Here, in this school, we foster students independence. It's neither the school, nor I who decides the outcome of the exams. It's the _students_ , after all _._ "

"Thank you very much," Irina says easily, standing. "My, you really are cryptic."

"Am I?" The Board Chairman lets out a laugh. "My apologies."

" _What_ a pity that you're married," Irina sighs. "I wouldn't mind a hard-headed man like you."

"To seduce or own?" The Board Chairman turns, smiling as calmly as ever.

"To kill," Is Irina's response, a smile matching the Board Chairman's. For his part, Asano Gakuho doesn't so much twitch even when he's being threatened by a professional assassin. "And that _is_ what will happen if you interfere this round."

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"He was definitely hiding something with all that stuff about the student's independence," Irina notes. "What with that wording."

"More or less," Karsuma agrees. "Though it seems that he won't be using any barely-legal tricks like the last time.

"I'd kill him. Well, it looks like the class's grades are directly tied to the assassination," Irina twirls a lock of hair around her finger. "So I may just lend a hand..." Suddenly looking eager, Irina's eyes shine as she beams at Karasuma. "Leave _everything_ about sex ed to me. Shall we study that in that conference room over there, 'kay, Karasuma?"

"What happened to English?" Karasuma sighs.

Not far from the two adults, a _familiar_ boy stands, on his phone.

 _Shindo Kazutaka._

Barely hesitating, he dials a number and waits.

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"Who's that?" Nagisa asks curiously.

She and Sugino had been having their weekly catch-up, where they basically chat about everything that happened throughout the week to each other, when Sugino's phone had rung.

"It's Shindo," Sugino says in surprise.

"The baseball captain?" Nagisa starts. Glancing around, she determines that none of their teachers are nearby. "Are you going to pick up?"

"Yeah," Sugino holds his phone against his ear. "Oh hey, Shindo," He says as a greeting.

Leaning close to Sugino, Nagisa can hear Shindo's reply.

"Hey. You did a real job on me at the ball game tournament," Shindo greets pompously. Nagisa giggles. That the boys did do. "I know I said that I'd get you back in high school," With all the swagger in the world, Shindo continues. "But you're not as smart as I am, and I'm starting to think that you might not make it."

"Haha," Laughing dryly, Sugino looks ticked off. "You're as high and mighty as ever."

"That being said," Shindo continues. "At the very least, getting out of the E Class may near impossible soon. Class A has gathered in one of the conference rooms."

Nagisa's eyes widen.

"Our three years of classes are divided by rank. From you guys at the lowest level, in class E, to the Middleground of classes B, C, and D, to the specially ranked A class, made up of students with the absolute best grades in the school," Shindo explains, even though Sugino and Nagisa had already known this. "The entirety of class A is gathered in one place, and is about to start their independent study session. It's the first time I've ever seen something like this. The ones taking the lead are the students known as the 'Five Virtuosos'. A group of geniuses that are the pride of our school."

Shindo clears his throat once, then suddenly, a loud, dramatic voice begins to introduce the Virtuosos.

"In second place overall-" Sugino nearly drops his phone at the loud and dramatic voice that bleeds out of the other end. Thankfully, Nagisa catches it and places it on the center of his table, turning speaker mode on. "-the socia _aaaaaaaa_ lly aware mass-media hopeful who cccccccrushes the com _pet_ ition: Media Club president, Akari Teppei! And in third, dominator of competitions in the huma _nit_ ies, the _peeeeer_ spica _ci_ ous poet and student council secretaaaaary, Sakakibara Ren! in fifth place-" Nagisa lets out a laugh at that. The gap between the third and fifth place had been filled by Karma. "The memorization monster _burning_ with a grudge against Akabane-" At that, Nagisa lets out a small gasp. "The biology club president, Kouyama Natsuhikoooooo..." The dramatic voice more or less _growls_ out the end bit of 'Natsuhiko', making the name of the slimy guy (Nagisa remembered him quite well, Kouyama-kun. Always angry at Karma, who constantly topped his ranking in their past exams, despite being in the D class and, now, the E one) seem more epic. "And in sixth place, the man whose sharp tongue and LA honed language skills are _light-years_ beyond the rest, student council treasurer, Seo Tomoya!"

"Wait, the bitch's boyfriend?" Kaede asks, causing Nagisa to jump. She hadn't noticed the green-haired girl approach.

"The bitch?" Nagisa whispers.

"The one...you know when we all were having fun taking revenge on?"

"Ah, yes," Nagisa nods. "Seems like it may be him. The girl's name was...Kaho? Tsuchiya Kaho?"

"Yeah, that was her," Sugino nods, his voice lowered.

"H-Hey, Shindo?" Sugino asks, raising his voice. "Is that...you doing all those voices?"

Over the phone line, Shindo sounds embarrassed as he mumbles. "I-I've always wanted to try my hand at announcing..." Then, he clears his throat again, the epic announcing voice comes back. "And reining over all those from the top..." Somehow, the phone manages to capture a new voice, deep, clear and loud.

"We are the sun, shining on all the famed at Kunugigaoka Junior High," The voice declares, and Nagisa jumps. That's... "But now, dark and threatening clouds are forming, trying to throw shade on our brilliance," The voice turns a little sad, and Nagisa blinks. _It's definitely him..._ "They say the E Class was aiming to get into top fifty for midterms. If so, we must monopolise the top spots, and drive out the dark clouds," Now, the voice is persuasive, matter-of-fact. "Let us correct their insolent ideals and protect the light of our school - by our own hands!"

Cheering is picked up over the phone, then Shindo begins speaking again.

"In first place, coming in fiiiiiirst on the naaaational mock exams with his perfect maaaastery of all suuuuuubjeeeeects, the man with leeeeeeaaaadership in his genes-"

"Shuu-kun," Nagisa whispers.

"Asano Gakushu! Student council president and the principal's only son!"

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 _Meanwhile, in the conference room..._

"Asano-kun, I'm having some trouble with problem three," A girl with wavy hair calls.

Omaeda Tsugumi **[Anyone remember her?]** bites down hard on her bottom lip. She find it annoying how all these girls are all over Asano Gakushuu. He's a person too, after all. Even if he doesn't act it.

Seeming not to notice the girls red cheeks, Gakushuu swoops in, leaning close to the wavy haired girl to see the question.

"Oh, that's a hard one," He says kindly. Tsugumi glances down at her math paper. She had finished it already, question three or no. "Try again, but complete the square first. The axis of symmetry is _x_ equals _a,_ you see..."

"Oh, I see!" The girl chirps. Tsugumi looks away, paying attention to the other virtuosos. Out of all five, she gets along with Gakushuu and Ren the best, then Araki. Seo is somewhat tolerable, but Kouyama had started freaking her out after the mid-terms.

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"They've got popularity _and_ top scores. The charisma that brings the proud class A go-getters, along with his innate leadership ability..." Shindo mutters.

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"Tsugumi, I'm helping out Koshiba-san now, could you go see what Shiraishi-san needs?" Gakushuu calls to her.

Tsugumi nods prudently, picking up her pencil and walking over to the girl Gakushuu had said needed help. "What seems to be the matter?" She asks flatly.

She had already gathered a few bullies in the school, people who resented her rise from the D class into the A one, people who hated that the results from her hundreds of sleepless nights had paid off into her work. Many people also despised how her quick brains and hard work had lead her to be noticed by Gakushuu, leading to their friendship. Usually, they torment her by stealing her notes, scribbling over her textbooks, putting dead insects in her bag, stealing her shoes...the few bitter souls in her class always make sure to make Tsugumi look as stupid as possible. They tend to pretend not to understand a thing she said if she tried to help them. Fortunately for Tsugumi, the girl called Shiraishi isn't one of those people, instead, she is actually a studious, serious, girl.

"If I move this over to this side, the equation will have no solution," Shiraishi tells Tsugumi.

"Ah, that's because this equation is a polynomial," Tsugumi explains. "To find the most likely volume you'll have too..." As she explains, her eyes dart around the classroom.

Ren is flirting it up with a girl, who's flushing down to the base of her neck. He kneels behind her, his hands on his shoulder and his face close to hers.

"How much better to travel a mile with you, than to travel a thousand miles a day!" He proclaims. Tsugumi would admit that Ren is good looking. His hair is a dark brown, and half shaves off so that it flops over the right side of his face. His facial features and shape is rather nice, too, not to mention his body build. Pity he isn't Tsugumi's type. "Come, let us study until your very vessels are filled with lovely words!" Catching Tsugumi's eye, he winks then crooks his finger at her. She gives him a deadpan look and refocuses on Shiraishi, finishing up her explanation.

"...and through that, you should get the answer," Tsugumi wraps up.

Shiraishi nods, beginning to scrawl numbers on a page.

"Back in LA, where I lived, this kind of grammar would have you thrown out of town!" Seo shouts at the side of the room. Rolling her eyes, Tsugumi walks there.

"What's going on," She asks, her words clipped and annoyed.

"S-Seo-kun's trying to help me out...?" The boy Seo's shouting at says hesitantly. Tsugumi leans over and peers at his work.

"Translate this into Japanese and read it out loud if you want to understand where you went wrong," Tsugumi turns and walks away, catching sight of Araki smiling calmly at a male student.

"What counts is the size of the change this event brought about," Araki says with a disarming smile. He has a docile sort of face, friendly and open. His dark hair is slightly greenish, and lies flat on his scalp. He wears round glasses and has his lips stretched into a wide, condescending sort of grin. "If you cant see that, you'll end up on the outskirts of society!"

Looks like he has gotten carried away again. Frowning, Tsugumi pats Araki's shoulder as she walks past him. He starts, then relaxes. "Sorry, I'll be running through that once more."

"Jam 'em in there!" Kouyama yells almost maniacally, shaking his equation notes at the poor students who had the misfortune to ask for Chemistry help. Kouyama is...Well, he doesn't look fourteen-going-on-fifteen. He looks...fifty? He has a very square chin, Tsugumi knows. And he also had a cleft in his chin, something her old friend from Class D, and now, E, Yada Touka would have called a butt chin. His brows met in the middle of his head, and his eyes were always slightly squinted, his glasses square and thick. His hair is longer than most boys', too, reaching just past his shoulders in a curling mess. "Do it! Junior and high school science is all about memorisation!"

"Kouyama," Tsugumi hisses as she walks past him, her eye twitching at the spit coming from his mouth.

"What, Omaeda?" Kouyama whirls on her, his spit splashing on her face.

Flinching, she slowly closes her eyes and very slowly wipes her face.

"Please teach _properly_ ," She snaps, marching back to her seat. Sometimes, she wonders why she tried so hard to elbow a spot for herself in the A Class. It honestly isn't as described.

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"Asano, with his perfect knowledge of every subject, and the others, with their own specialisations. Together, they form the big five," Shindo wraps up. "They're looking to keep you guys back from making it back to the main campus. If this keeps up..."

Sugino doesn't say anything, then smiles. "Thanks for looking out for us, Shindo," he says, surprising Nagisa and Kaede, who frankly hadn't expected him to say that. By now, most of their class has gathered around the mobile device, playing it sound out for everyone to hear. "But it's alright. Right now, our goal isn't to get out of the E Class. Still, to meet the goal we _do_ have, we will need to beat class A on points."

Shindo makes a sound of interest.

"Watch us, ok?" Sugino says cheerily. "We'll put up a real fight!"

"Go right ahead," Shindo finally says. "The E Class's fight isn't any of my business."

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 **Most of the chapter from now on will be purely my own imagination.**

 **Sorry**

 **Hope this doesn't make you guys lose faith in me**

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"What did you call me out here for, Akabane?" With some amusement in his eyes, Asano Gakushuu smiles the same smile his father is so infamous for.

"I wonder," Karma hums. "Maybe for a casual chat?"

"We both know we don't do casual," Gakushuu replies.

The two boys glare at each other a bit longer, then Gakushuu rolls his eyes.

"Be quick. I have places to go."

"People to see, lives to ruin~" Karma's beam widens.

"Well, you're not wrong," Gakushuu shrugs.

"Fine," Karma pulls out the _letter_. "Did you get my reply?"

"Yes," Gakushuu's smile completely slide off his face. "I believe you said...what was it...come at me?"

"Go ahead," Karma grins. "Come at me, Shuu-chan!" He growls. Idly, Karma glances at the area around the two of them. They're both in a conference room, Gakushuu standing all the way inside, Karma standing at the door. "Hmm, I wonder who will get top for all subjects this round..." He mutters, recalling Korosensei's wager with them.

Already ramrod straight back straightening even more, Gakushuu narrows his eyes. "I can."

Oh. He heard that.

"Hmm," Karma's smile grows bigger. "Can you, now?" Without waiting for a response, he spins and his heel and makes to leave.

"I challenge you, Akabane!" Gakushuu snarls.

Karma pauses.

He has never been one to refuse a challenge.

"Fine," Karma relents, turning. "Name it."

"If I top three out of the five top subjects, you will admit that I am better."

"Hmm," Instead of replying, Karma walks backwards out of the room, his hands tucked securely in his pockets. "I wonder..."

"You've already accepted it," Gakushuu narrows his eyes.

"Ah, but Shuu-chan, you wouldn't like what I'd ask for if _I_ topped three out of the five," Karma grins.

"Name it."

It's Karma's turn to narrow his eyes. "Lay off Nagisa."

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"Exams can be so stressful," Sugino groans as he, Nagisa and Manami walk home together.

"Don't remind me," Manami sighs, then brightens. "But I was just thinking, since I really like science-"

"And you're really good at it," Nagisa interrupts, smiling slightly.

"-That I could maybe do _something_!" Manami cheers. "I could help the class, if I score first."

"Aren't you worried that Kouyama Natsuhiko will score higher than you?" Sugino asks, his arms propped behind his head.

Manami falls silent as she broods, frowning slightly.

"It will be fine," Feeling both Sugino and Manami turn to look at her, Nagisa shrugs, then beams at Manami. "I'm sure you'll score highest if you do your best. Kouyama-kun...he only does memorisation. While that has it's advantages, it also means that he doesn't _understand_. At the level that we are, the teachers want to see that students _understand."_

"Is that so?" Sugino laughs. "Maybe I can score pretty high, then."

"Well, you're not dumb by any means, so you may be able to," Nagisa encourages, then starts as her phone buzzes in her pocket.

Fishing it out, she switches it on and checks her texts.

 _Heh, want to study at the cafe? Syao-chan and Chi are actually pretty smart, you know. - K_

 _Invite the rest if you must. -K_

 _Oh I'll be late. Have urgent business - K_

Humming, Nagisa turns to look at Sugino and Manami. "Want to go to a cafe to study?" She asks.

"I thought that isn't allowed," Manami says doubtfully.

"It'll be fine," Nagisa reassures Manami. "It's pretty hot out, so I think it would be nice to study somewhere with air conditioning."

"If you can get a place, I'll send a message to the class chat and see who can come," Sugino grins, waving his phone. "Air con would be nice...Oh, I'm still going to study with Isogai-kun in the library, though. I mean, Kanazaki-san will be there."

"She told you that you can call her Yukiko-san, you know," Nagisa laughs, then starts texting.

 _I'll take up your offer_ _(=^･ω･^)y＝ Bringing whoever wants to come o(*ω*)o -Nagisa_

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"Is this just a study party?" Chi asks, amused as Nagisa enters the cafe (alone), her classmates hovering outside. Kataoka, Fuwa, Nakamura, Hayami, Chiba, Okajima, Mimura, Sugaya, Yada and Manami are the only ones who came. Oh, and Terasaka, Muramatsu, Yoshida, Hazama and Hara too. They had seemed interested when the word 'Cafe' had been mentioned.

"Something like that," Nagisa smiles shyly.

"Oh, but Nagisaaaa," Chi whines, suddenly switching modes. "I missed you so muuuuccchhh! You haven't visited recently!" She flings an arm around the smaller girl and lugs her behind the counter. "Mama, look who's here!"

"Nagisa-chan!" Yuui cries out, his face appearing at the window behind the counter. "I haven't seen you in so long, wow!"

"They've been incredibly annoying about it," Kuro growls, his familiar stern face taking the space next to Yuui. "Bugging me about you. Like I can contact you."

"Is Karma coming too?" Chi asks, cheerful again.

"Y-Yes..." Nagisa says slowly.

"Okay, let's get them a booth room!" Yuui cheers, starting to walk away from the window when Kuro grabs the back of his shirt.

"No, we're up to our elbows in orders now. Chi and Syaoran can settle it."

"Awwwwwww," Pouting, Yuui lets out a dramatic sigh. "Desperate times call for desperate measures...when Karma comes, tell him to help out!"

"What?!" Kuro screeches.

"No?" Yuui blinks. "But Kurooooo~puuuu, we're up to our elbows in-"

"Nadeshiko-san, why are you behind the counter?" Syaoran asks, hopping over said counter.

And here Nagisa had thought that Syaoran had finally learnt her name.

"I don't know," She smiles awkwardly, then steps out from behind the counter. "Better?"

"I didn't have any problem with it," Syaoran admits, smiling a little as he ruffles her hair. Passing a tray of dirty plates through the window behind the counter, Syaoran waits impatiently. After a moment, Yuui passes two trays full of just-cooked dishes.

"Fresh out of the oven!" Yuui promises, receiving a nod from Syaoran, who rushes off with the orders.

When Syaoran returns with a pair of empty trays, Nagisa explains to him about the end-of-terms. "...And Karma said that you're actually really smart."

"Well..." Syaoran frowns. "I never had much interest in furthering my education. I always assumed that I'd just take over the family business, so I will be dropping school after I graduate this year."

"Syao-chan is naturally smart," Chi nods. "Mama and Papa are too."

"What about Chi?"

"Chi...well," Syaoran shrugs. "If she wants, we can both take over. She's avoided the question whenever I ask."

"Will you please help us study?" Nagisa asks, hoping that Syaoran will say yes.

"Sure!" Chi starts when Syaoran turns a surprised look on her.

"But Chi, we're _packed_ today!"

"But I want to teach them!" Chi whines.

Sighing, Syaoran powers up his phone and begins texting. "Maybe if Sakura comes and helps with waitressing...Tomoyo may come too and Yamazaki and that girl with curly pigtails...oh, I can ask Mei Ling...If they all agree, you can take a break and help them for a couple of hours."

Nagisa blinks in confusion at all the unfamiliar names.

"Really?" Chi beams, then flings her arms around Syaoran. "Yay! You're the best big brother ever!"

"You're practically an adult, Chi!" Syaoran protests, trying to shake off his sister. "Come on! You have to work diligently until they get here!"

"Pooh," Chi frowns, but takes the trays Yuui and Kuro have left on the counter inside the window behind the counter.

As she glides off, Syaoran turns his attention to Nagisa, passing her keys. "Nadeshiko, there's a door to the right of the staff door. Go unlock it, then switch on the lights and the air conditioning. The table should be bare, and I'll send someone in later to wipe it. You and your class can study in there."

"Eh, really?" Nagisa's eyes widen, then she beams. "Thank you, Syao-kun!"

"No problem, Nadeshiko-san," Syaoran ruffles Nagisa's hair again, then turns his attention back to the rest of the cafe.

"Bye bye, Yuui-mama, Kuro-papa," Nagisa waves, then turns, gesturing for her classmates to enter. They do, looking both amazed and confused.

"Study hard, Nagisa-boo," Yuui blows her a flying kiss, and waves while Kuro simply grunts. "Send Karma into the kitchen when he comes~"

Smiling to herself, Nagisa scampers over to the door and unlocks it. _There_. True enough, the private room is there. It's a little stuffy, but Nagisa switches on the lights and the air conditioning, and the room starts to feel more manageable. A large, round table stands in the middle of the room.

"That is a nice table," A voice speaks from her phone, startling Nagisa. She had forgotten about Ritsu. "The design looks distinctly Scandinavian. Perhaps Swedish?"

"H-Hi, Ritsu," Nagisa blushes. "Did you hear Chi-chan, Syao-kun and I talking?"

"A little," Ritsu beams. "You have good friends."

"Thank you," Nagisa glances at the old table. It _is_ rather nice. "I'll have to tell everyone to be careful not the scratch it..."

"Hey, I came to wipe the table!" A slightly familiar voice surprises Nagisa, who jumps and turns, slowly. Standing behind her is a vaguely familiar girl with brown hair cut in a bob, save for a pair of overly long strands that trail down past her shoulders, and she has a kind, sightly blur face with wide, emerald green eyes. "Oh, you're Nadeshiko-san!"

"Actually, my name's Nagisa," Nagisa smiles awkwardly. Her classmates stand behind the girl, all shuffling about.

"Syaoran's fond of you," The girl beams. "You really are cute! Chi always says so."

Then everything clicks in Nagisa's head. "Oh, you're Sakura!"

"That I am!" Sakura laughs, clapping her hands together. "Syaoran's...girlfriend, I guess?"

"Sakura!" Syaoran shouts from outside the private room.

"Uwah, I got distracted!" Sakura gasps, and runs to the table, beginning to wipe it briskly. After she's done, she grabs a large oblong sheet of glass leaning against the wall (Nagisa hadn't noticed the glass) and wipes down both sides before arranging it on top of the table. The glass aligns nicely. "I'll come in with pastries and snacks later!"

"Thank you, Sakura-san," Nagisa bows.

"No problem!" Sakura beams. "A friend of my friend is a friend of mine!"

"Sakuraaaaa!"

"Uwah! I've got to go!" Sakura gasps. "Bye bye, Nagisa-san!"

Nagisa's classmates file in after that, all amazed at her.

"Nagisa, you knew the owners?!" Nakamura tackles her immediately. "Introduce me to that brunette boy!"

"Huh?" Nagisa asks in confusion.

Fuwa falls on her as well. "No, introduce _me!_ "

"Time out," Kataoka - thank goodness for Kataoka - chops both girls on the head. "Nagisa is not your dating hotline. Besides, that _boy_ is more or less a _man_ , and he has a girlfriend. Am I right, Nagisa?"

Nagisa blinks. To her, Syaoran is still the same older-brother figure he had been back when she had first met him - still in junior high. He definitely still had the same personality.

"Um."

"Let's get to studying," Kataoka nods, then stares at Nagisa a bit longer. "Is something the matter?"

"Oh, Chi may be coming in later to teach us a bit," Nagisa says slowly.

"Chi?" Kataoka frowns, considering. "Whoever she is, I guess she may be able to help us..."

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Gakushuu storms through the corridors of school, angered by that pretentious thing called Akabane Karma.

"Shuu-kun, your father wants to see you," Tsugumi calls as he marches past the A Class.

"Fine!" He yells back. He's in the perfect temperament for it anyway. As he's about to turn into the principal's office, a girl steps out and they almost collide, the girl grabbing his arm before he can fall.

"Whoa there," She says cheerily, steadying him and brushing him off. "You ok there, big guy?"

" 'Big Guy' ?" Gakushuu looks at the girl, wondering about his strange nickname for him.

The girl is really small. She has curling hair that goes down to her waist and soft hazel eyes that make him curious.

There's a sort of cut-throat feeling to his girl, however. Idly, Gakushuu wonders why she has half her hair up in a twin tail and the other down.

"Oh, it's you," The girl's soft eyes suddenly go hard, and she crosses her arms. "Great. Just finished dealing with one Asano, have to deal with the other."

Gakushuu narrows his eyes. "Who are you?"

"Don't like not knowing something, Mr I'm-so-smart?" The girl sasses. Looking annoyed, she rolls her eyes. To his surprise, she tells him who she is.

"No way," Gakushuu says firmly. "You can't be that person because Nagisa-san says that that person is very sweet and cheerful."

"I am," The girl crosses her arms. "But I really despise you. If I wanted to, I could easily convince Nagisa that I'm sweeter than pudding to you...ah, I really love pudding."

Gakushuu eyes her warily.

"Speaking of which, I need to have a chat with you," The girl steps around him and leans against the wall to the right of the principal's office. "When you're done arguing with your papa, come with me. I'll be waiting outside, so don't you dare run away."

"Who are you to-"

"The question on your mind now," The girl interrupts. "You should be asking your father that. Demand a response."

Gakushuu's eyes narrow. The question on his mind...

 _What is 3E hiding?_

"I don't suppose you know anything?" He asks.

"Of course I know something," The girl narrows her eyes at him. "I'm just saying you should ask."

"Hmm," Gakushuu clears his throat. The unexpected statement had somehow managed to calm him. He gives the girl another glare, then enters the room.

Time to deal with his father.

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"Board Chairman, as you have requested, I have begun raising the grads of class A," Thankfully, Gakushuu manages to calm himself before he enters the room. It's not good to meet a prowling lion with an obvious weakness, obviously. Even if one is a cunning tiger. "Are you satisfied?"

The Board Chairman, Gakushuu's father, slowly spins his chair around, his chin propped on his hands as he smiles. "Asano-kun, what we need are results. It is meaningless to report without results to show for it." While most parents will scream in horror at the mere idea of calling their child by his surname rather than his first name, it is something normal in their household. "Let's say...the A Class should at least occupy the top fifty ranks and the top spot for all five subjects."

Gakushuu blinks. That's how it has always been. Aside from Akabane, but everyone knows that no one can do anything about him. His eyes drift over to the soccer ball in the corner of the room. Aimlessly, he picks it up, turns it over in his hands. Finally, Gakushuu drops it onto the ground, setting his foot on it. " 'The E class cannot do better than any other class'," Gakushuu begins to roll the ball around. "I understand this principle of yours, but not why you're so insistent on it," Now, he kicks the ball into the air lightly and begins to play with it, bouncing it from knee to knee, from knee to head, from head to chest, from chest to back and so on. "Yes, their grades are improving, but they can only go so far," at least, this is what he has convinced himself. He just needs his eccentric father to confirm it for him. "I sincerely doubt that they will be any match for us."

"This is exactly what I wanted to teach you, Asano-kun," Gakushuu's father laughs softly, clasping his hands together and settling them on the desk in front of him. "Sometimes the strong and the weak can switch sides, just like that. To remain on the strong side no matter what...that is the hard thing to do."

Gakushuu lets out a quiet sound of interest, bouncing the ball from his shoulder to his foot, where he bounces it up and down. "Understood, Board Chairman. I shall see to it that your conditions are fulfilled. Once that's taken care of...may I ask you something?" He carefully balances the soccer ball on his shoe, using his foot and ankle. "Not as a student, but as your son?"

"What's this? Looking for more quality time with me?" Gakushuu's father taunts.

"Hardly," Answering smoothly, Gakushuu pivots on his foot, the one set on the ground, and faces his father. "About class E..." He kicks the ball into the air a few times, then kicks it exceptionally hard, so that it almost touches the ceiling. "What is it that you are hiding?" With that said, he sees his father's eyes widen a fraction before the ball drops into kicking range. Without hesitation, Gakushuu slams his foot into the ball, aiming for his father's face.

Like it would hit, anyway.

True enough, Gakushuu's father catches the ball with practised ease. The shot had given him time to reschedule his features into an emotionless mask.

"I just can't shake my suspicions," Gakushuu continues conversationally. "You've had more dealings with the E Class this school year," forgive him for being a little jealous. "As hard as it is to believe...You're not involved in anything other than education, are you? Something sketchy?"

When he receives no reply, Gakushuu plows on. "There have been strange rumours circulating. People have reported seeing a giant yellow octopus flying through the sky or a strangely large black-cloaked man buying up all the sweets in a store or even a mysterious voice snickering behind a well-endowed woman." Gakushuu almost thinks that his father makes a noise, but his expression remains unchanged. "Well, I'm sure that these are all baseless rumours totally without merit, but..."

To Gakushuu's surprise, his father almost sounds threatened as he speaks. "Why do you want to know? So that you can use that information to control me?"

"Of course!" Gakushuu straightens, grinning widely and meeting his father's eyes. "After all," he catches the ball his father throws at him. "You're the one who taught me how to control everything."

"Spoken like my oldest student," Gakushuu's father says. Gakushuu's shoulders tense. Oldest student. Not son, never son. Lightly, Gakushuu laughs. "I'll put a collar on you and own you for life."

His father laughs the same laugh. "What a coincidence. I was just thinking of keeping you as a corporate slave until the day you die."

The father and son duo glare each other down, then both laugh identical sinister laughs.

The window pane cracks.

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"You sure talk big, small guy," The girl immediately imparts on Gakushuu as he leaves his father's office.

"I plan to act big as well," Gakushuu replies coldly. "What is it you want to talk about?"

"Nagisa. And Class E and Class A, too," The girl grabs Gakushuu's arm and drags him behind her. "Come. I know a good place to eat. We are going to have a long talk and god _forbid_ if you actually manage to understand a word I say."

"I'm more intellectual than you think," Gakushuu argues, trying to pull away from their girl.

"There are many ways to say what I want to. I can say it in one word. 'No.' Two words. 'You _wish_.' Three words. 'Quit deluding yourself'. Four words-"

"I get it."

" 'You can suck ****.' "

Gakushuu's jaw drops.

"As my dear papa would've said," The girl threw a smirk at Gakushuu's dumbstruck face. "Don't worry, it's not my hobby to swear. Come on, let's go eat."

"Where?" He asks suspiciously.

"Here. There. Everywhere," the girl says vaguely, waving her arm around as she tugs him out of the school. "I went and got your bag too, nutcase. You have no excuse to run away from me."

"R-Run away?!" Gakushuu gapes.

"Yep, you're stuck with me!" The girl grins over her shoulder at him.

Gakushuu, for some reason, finds himself relaxing. "Fine." He relents.

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Yuuma can't help but wonder what possessed him to invite Okano Hinata along to a study session with Maehara Hiroto. And in the library no less. The pair are arguing in harsh whispers and keep aiming kicks at each other. However, because Okano is sitting opposite Yuuma, Hiroto is sitting to his left and Yuuma himself has pretty long legs, they mostly end up kicking him. He doesn't let the pain flicker onto his face, but wonders just how to get the two to get along.

Oh well, he shouldn't bother them now. They are having a studying competition while insulting each other in rather loud hisses. This, at the least, means that the flippant Hiroto will study. Even if it's just a little.

Sweeping his eyes over their small table, Yuuma feels relieved to find everyone working hard. It is, after all, a rare opportunity to studying with air conditioning and with all the resources provided by the library. The six of them - himself, Hiroto, Okano, Sugino Tomohito, Kanzaki Yukiko and Kurahashi Hinano - are all helping each other while studying themselves.

"Sugino, could you help me with this question?" Kanzaki whispers softly, sliding a book across the table to Sugino.

Kurahashi works on her own, with bunch of books to aid her. She hums cheerily, one hand tugging on her curly locks while the other moves at a rapid pace to record notes.

Frowning, Yuuma tosses his hand into his left hand and gets started on his biology studies. Really, he doesn't like that topic. As he writes, his elbow bumps against Hiroto's, causing a long strip of violent ink to sprout on Hiroto's paper as the blonde's pen is knocked off course.

"Sorry," Yuuma passes Hiroto correction tape and switches his pen from his left hand to his right. At this particular moment, he's glad he's ambidextrous.

"For what?" Hiroto replies with some amusement, and Yuuma adverts his eyes. Hiroto's amused face is a little too much for him. "Just write with whatever hand you want."

"Thank you," Yuuma says politely, but keeps his pen in his right hand.

However, as time passes, Hiroto makes grumbling sounds next to Yuuma, and Okano sounds smug as she snickers quietly.

"Need help, Hiroto?" Yuuma finally asks.

"YES!" Hiroto all but shouts.

"SHHHH!" A hundred voices explodes in the library, two of which are Yuuma's and Okano's.

"Sorry," Hiroto says sheepishly, and shoves his book at Yuuma. "Could you explain the current affairs of the world in detail? Slowly?"

Yuuma sighs, but cracks a smile. Hiroto, his dearest and closest friend, never fails to cheer him up. "Sure, first, we'll start with the civics part of-"

"Oh my, oh my," A taunting voice calls. Yuuma freezes, but lifts his head. "If it isn't the E Class Gang. Our library is wasted on people like you. The pearls should come before the swine, am I correct?"

Yuuma bites the inside of his lip, not glancing at the towering stack of reference books he'd taken and finished just before offering to help Hiroto.

Wasted. Yes, very wasted.

Lifting his head, Yuuma recognises one of the five people surrounding them. One of them is Seo Tomoyo, and Yuuma has to grip the table to keep himself from lunging at the man on Hiroto's behalf. Yuuma's eyes roam over the other four, his quick-thinking brain drawing conclusions. One of them is a semi-familiar girl, but the other three, all boys, are definitely people he's seen at assemblies.

The big five, huh? Plus one girl.

He hopes this isn't going to be one of those 'that's _our_ table' scenes.

"Beat it, scrubs," Seo snarls. "Those are our seats. Move your butts."

Ah. It is.

Yuuma sees Hiroto fist his hands, his fingers digging into his palms. Half-worried, Yuuma takes Hiroto's hands under the table and pull his fingers away from his palm. instead, he replaces them with his own, and Hiroto grips his fingers so hard, Yuuma can't feel them.

"Sorry," Kurahashi says politely. "But we really are studying hard!"

Yuuma clears his throat and frees one of his hands. "I'm afraid we booked a table ahead of time," He says, holding out the slip of paper. "These seats are ours. See, we-"

The boy who had first spoken, the boy with a short bowl cut, round glasses and a mocking face took the paper, reading it with exaggeratedly wide eyes.

"Useless," Another boy, with long curly hair and enough wrinkles to look like Hiroto's grandfather (Yuuma had seen the kindly old man several times) and thick square glasses giggles. He snatches the slip away from the bowl cut boy and rips it in half. "You E-Class failures can't defy anyone from the A Class. Not in this school! These are wasted on pigs like you, hu hu!"

Yuuma's fingers twitch where they're hidden in his lap and gripped by Hiroto.

"Ah, not all of them are pigs," The last male is a boy with brown hair that has it's sides shaved off and part of it flops over the right side of his face. Yuuma actually wonders if it's possible for a man to be that good-looking, then recalls Karma and Hiroto. He arranges himself artfully around Kanzaki's chair and smiles sweetly, letting her dark hair slip around his fingers. "See? Even there are pearls among the swine."

"What a pity," The brown-haired boy continues, leaning so that his face is uber close to Kanzaki's. Yuuma observes Sugino's hackles rising. "We could have been a perfect couple, if only you had the academic ability for it," he speaks in a whispering tone, as though trying to seduce the obviously-uncomfortable Kanzaki. "Perhaps you could be our servant. How about it?"

"Er..." Kanzaki swallows thickly and glances around for help. "I...er...no."

 _She has terrible luck in men_ , Yuuma jumps as Hiroto loosens the hold he had on Yuuma's hand, tracing the words onto his palm. The two had grown up attached at the hip, and had developed this way to communicate effectively without being caught by their teachers. They had become such experts that they could trace messages onto almost any part of each other's body without feeling uncomfortable or getting caught.

Yuuma nods shallowly.

"Hey-" Sugino starts when the girl finally speaks up.

"Kouyama-kun," Surprisingly, the girl's voice is low, and devoid of all emotion. She has small brown eyes, thick chocolate brown hair done in a thick braid draped over one shoulder and large framed glasses balancing on her nose. "Ren-kun. Please recall that you are in a public place. Araki-kun. You shouldn't pick on those below you."

"Eh? I'm not picking on her, I'm allowing her a chance to-"

"Ren-kun. What if she is one of your precious _imouto's_ friends?" The girl interrupts. Surprisingly, the boy called Ren steps away from Kanzaki then, sighing. Yuuma doesn't have time to wonder just what power this girl has over them before Ren speaks again.

"Are you sure you wouldn't like to be a maid at my place? The uniform would fit you..."

"I...I'll pass..." Kanzaki replies awkwardly. "My apologies."

 _Imouto?_ Hiroto traces on Yuuma's knuckles.

 _A younger sister? Maybe a twin he has in our class._ Yuuma traces on Hiroto's thigh quickly.

"Don't ask such weird things from Kanzaki," Sugino scolds the boy called Ren sharply.

"Actually, back to our actual topic," Seo reminds them. "You're in our seats. Get off."

"We didn't even come here to study. We came for books," The girl says sharply, taking a step forward when Seo glares at her.

"Shut up, you conniving hag," Sea rebukes.

"You would know about them, you're dating one," The boy with glasses (Araki?) supplies.

"Kaho-san is nice," Ren states cheerily. "She's about as nice as King Minos. The one with the bull."

Hiroto lets out a snicker and Yuuma prepares for the worst, squeezing Hiroto's hand

"Did you _laugh?_ " Seo asks, his eyes narrowing.

Yuuma stands, his mouth open to diffuse the situation when Hiroto speaks up. "'Course I did. Your friend knows what he's talking about."

"Someone as low in academic ability as you should shut up," Seo turns up his nose, using an uppity tone. "Especially in that class of yours."

"Should I?" Hiroto stands, releasing Yuuma's hand, and Yuuma knows that his friend has lost all his rationality. "Well, our class plans on getting first for each subject, so not so stupid are we, now?"

The girl's eyes widen and the four boys seem to loose their composure for the first time.

Finally, Araki clears his throat and walks to Yuuma and Hiroto, slinging his arms around them in a friendly fashion. "Alright. How about this? Whichever one of our classes that get the most top rankings over the top five subjects gets to make the loosing class do whatever they want?"

The six of them stay silent, assessing the situation.

Yuuma watches as Seo props his elbow on Hiroto's shoulder. "What's this? Scared?"

Kouyama, laughing hideously, stands behind the other two girls. "So you can talk big, huh?"

"We're even willing to bet our lives, you know," Seo says maliciously, leaning closer to Hiroto.

Yuma's eyes slide over to eye Araki, smiling politely in a mocking way. In less than a second, all six of them act.

Hiroto's arrow sharp pencil is pointed innocently at the soft bottom of Seo's chin.

Yukiko, with her usual passive, pretty smile aims a mechanical pencil at Ren's eye while Sugino is next to the black-haired girl in a flash, his stapler hovering by Ren's head.

Kurahashi sweeps Kouyama off his feet, his glasses flying from his nose and Okano balances her foot over his wide, fearful eyes.

Yuuma points his finger at the pressure point on Araki's neck with no change in his expression.

This last for no more than a second before they all move away, returning to the matter at hand.

"Don't have so much hubris," Yuuma tells them, staring unblinkingly. "You should be careful when it comes to your lives."

Seo staggers back, almost knocking down the silent girl (who hasn't done much other than watch) and Yuuma sees him swallow thickly, clearly unnerved.

"F-Fine, we have a deal!" Seo splutters.

"W-We'll show you something worse than death!" Kouyama squeaks, replacing his glasses on his nose.

"You can't run now," Ren says, looking slightly panicked.

"You'll regret this!" Kouyama squeals and the four of them run for the exit.

The girl that came with the boys steps to the side as they hightail from the library, watching Yuuma with just as unblinking and very cold eyes.

"I'm glad that's over," Hiroto says cheerily, turning his attention back to his work. "You were explaining, Yuuma?"

Yuuma doesn't reply right away. The silent girl is still there. They have a sort-of staring competition until the girl exhales.

"That was very brave of you," She states calmly. "Or foolish. You must be very careful. Before they manage to pass the message to Asano-kun, I must ask you."

"Yes?" Sugino speaks up before Yuuma can.

The girl closes her eyes, then opens them. "Do you feel that you can win the bet? If you cannot, you should back out now."

The six of them exchange looks. The temperature in the already-cold library seems to drop even more.

"We will not back out," Yuuma replies for everyone.

"I see," The girl nods, then bows to them. "Good luck, then."

As she walks away, Hiroto rolls his eyes. "She and Hayami would make a good pair."

Ah, right. Speaking of their classmates. "We have to inform the rest of our class," Yuuma smiles dryly. "Kurahashi, if you don't mind."

"OK," Kurahashi pulls out her phone, her fingers flying across the screen.

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The study session is surprisingly informative.

So it turns out that Chi is actually really, _really_ smart. She ran them through (spartan mode) Japanese, Social Studies and English without so much batting an eyelid. Somehow, Chi had even manage to slam in some random Home Economics facts as she spoke. 'Like, olive oil is more fattening than butter!' and 'when cooking eggs, the best heat is low heat!'.

"Suwa-san's really good," Nakamura says in admiration, stretching. Today, Nagisa had also learnt Chi's full name. Suwa Chi. Syaoran is technically Suwa Syaoran, but Nagisa clearly remembers him telling her to call him 'Li'.

Hmm...

"No kidding," Fuwa yawns, then glances at the rapidly darkening sky outside her window. "She's as fluctuating as Korosensei."

"Syao-kun will run through Math and Science with us tomorrow," Nagisa nods, gathering her belongings. "We should be going..."

"Yeah, yeah," Nakamura stands, grabbing her bag.

"Remember to thank Suwa-san," Kataoka calls over her shoulder as she and Hayami walk out of the private room, Chiba, Mimura and Okajima following after.

"Yeah, yeah," Fuwa sighs, trudging after their large group.

"Hey, Megu-Megu," Yada calls, rushing after the taller girl. "Wait up!"

As everyone trickles out, Nagisa stays in the private room, looking at everything and nothing.

"Hey, you're still in here?" A voice chimes behind her, where the doorway of the private room is.

Yelping, Nagisa almost falls over herself in her haste to spin around and look at the owner of the voice.

Sakura smiles sheepishly at Nagisa when she sees the blue-haired girl almost faceplant. "Oops...sorry-Oh, Syaoran wanted to know if you want to stay and eat dinner?"

"You call Syao-kun 'Syaoran'," Nagisa observes.

"Yeah," Sakura blinks, then beams. "Fai says it's because I'm special!"

Nagisa nods and cracks a smile too, adjusting her bag on her shoulder. "I'll stay for dinner, I assume you will be too, Sakura-chan?"

"Yep!" Sakura laughs. "Go meet Fai-san and Kurogane-kun! Tell them I'll be cleaning up in here. Oh, and that Karma-kun called."

"Eh?"

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When Nagisa hurries through the 'Staff and Monkeys' door of the cafe, she's surprised to see Karma casually cooking with Yuui and Kuro.

"Karma!" Beaming, Nagisa rushes forward and hugs her boyfriend from behind. "When you didn't come to the study group-"

"Sorry, sorry," Karma turns off the fire of the stove he is cooking at and places his spatula into the wok he had been using. "How was it, Nagisa?"

"...Chi-chan is actually a good teacher..." Nagisa says hesitantly.

"That's good to hear~!" Karma grins.

"Karma, you can take your break now," Kuro calls over his shoulder. "If you're done with the-"

"Thanks, Kuro-pipi!" Karma turns and Nagisa releases him, giggling a little as Kuro lets out a shout of anger. Karma undoes his apron, then guides Nagisa to the door. "Let's eat, Nagisa."

"Eh?" Before she can say anything, Karma's whisked Nagisa out into the main body of the cafe and has her sitting at the counter. Like he had back in elementary school, Karma orders for her. Today, Nagisa tries ordering for Karma as well.

As Karma laughs at Nagisa's choice for him, she suddenly notices familiar green hair out the corner of her eye.

"Eh? Is that Kaede?" Nagisa blinks.

"Pudding?" Karma follows Nagisa's line of sight, seeing Kaede sitting with an orange-haired male in a booth, the two of them chatting in a friendly manner. "So it is...she on a date?"

"Karma, that's Shuu-kun and Kaede...!" Nagisa's eyes grow wide. "It may very well be a date!"

"Nice," Karma grins evilly, reminding Nagisa of a villain in a hollywood movie. "That kills two birds with one stone."

"Eh?"

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At first, Gakushuu and the strange girl simply glare at each other for about ten minutes, before a smiling waitress with brown hair cut into a bob comes to take their orders. She diffuses the tension between them almost effortlessly, and Gakushuu is amused by how easily the girl relaxes after that.

"So, how was your meeting with your pops?" She asks cheerfully as the waitress brings them a small basket of bread rolls. The girl eagerly tears into the rolls as Gakushuu takes his time to deliberate what to answer, watching her uncivilised behaviour with a slack jaw.

"It was no different from always," He decides on.

"So must have been pretty terrible," The girl sums up. She then stares at him. "Your underlings told you, right?"

Gakushuu only blinks.

"I guess that's a no," The girl shakes her head and frowns. "That makes my job harder...Then I'll move on to Nagisa first."

"What did you want to talk about Nagisa?" Gakushuu decides to get right to the point.

"I dunno," The girl butters one of the bread rolls and delves into it. She only surfaces a little later, her hazel eyes narrowed at him. "Do you fancy her?"

Gakushuu nods.

"Why?"

And Gakushuu freezes. Why does he like Nagisa? His brain immediately supplies him with answers.

 _Because she's nice, because she's well-mannered, because she's sweet..._

"Nagisa is a sweet girl," Gakushuu answers smoothly.

"Hmm," The girl stretches, then grins. "You sure you really like her?"

Gakushuu pauses.

"Yes," he decides on.

"Really?" The girl picks up a new roll but doesn't eat it, eyeing him in an unsettling manner. He almost thinks she is looking through him. "Do you think about her all the time? Does your heart race when she's around you? Can you never stand seeing her with other people? Do you wish you could touch her more?"

Gakushuu blinks in surprise at the sudden onslaught of questions.

"Do you never want to see her crying? Do you want to make her cry? Do you always want to make her smile? Do you always want to be by her side? Do you never want to let her go?" The girl tears a bit of the roll off. "Do you want to monopolise her?"

"That's a bit-"

" 'The heart wants what the heart wants'," The girl utters softly, her eyes flashing easily. "You don't need a reason to love some one. If you need a reason to tell yourself you like them, then isn't it just you being selfish?"

"I don't get it," Gakushuu frowns. "You mean to say that people should just fall in love mindlessly?"

"No," The girl shakes her head, still tearing off pieces of her roll. Crumbs fall in armloads onto the table. "Reasons are nice. But if you can only love someone by constantly telling yourself the exact reason why you (should) love them, then it's just you being selfish."

"What are you implying?" Narrowing his eyes, Gakushuu leans forward.

The girl aims her finger at Gakushuu. "After the end-of-terms," She utters, then stuffs whatever is leftover from her bread roll into her mouth.

Gakushuu nearly throttles her as she takes what must be ten minutes to chew the roll.

Finally, she swallows. "After end-of-terms," The girl continues. "I'll give you a week. Figure out your real feelings by then. Nagisa is not a glossy trophy to be won. You have to assess the situation. If you really don't like her that way, step away."

Gakushuu opens her mouth to protest when the girl tosses a bread roll at him.

"I'm not done!" She scolds sharply. "You'll only end up hurting her if you try to rip her away from Karma with those forced feelings you have!"

"Forced feelings!" Gakushuu's jaw drops and he growls, leaning towards the girl. "You-"

She throws a packet of sugar at him this time. "I'm not _done_ ," She glares at him. "No manners. Geez! Anyway, Nagisa really, really loves Karma. Unlike some people, I will never ever judge their relationship because they are happy together and so much better together than apart. I don't care if _you_ think she'll be better off with you. If you like someone, if you truly, truly like her, you will let her be happy with Karma."

Gakushuu waits two seconds this time before he speaks. "And who are you to lecture me on this matter?"

"Nagisa's friend and a love advisor," The girl grins. "I have a blog, if you must check it out.

For what must be the third time in the past five to ten minutes, Gakushuu's jaw drops.

It's a record.

She rattles off a link, and Gakushuu googles her up quickly. Sure enough, a tumblr blog pops up.

"Four thousand followers?!" He gapes at her.

"Got it now, plebeian?" The girl asks smugly.

"Plebeian?! You-" Gakushuu forces himself to calm down. "What if my feelings are real?"

"That's why you have a week," The girl hums, then beams with delight as their food is set down in front of them by the same waitress who had first come.

"Is that all for you?" She asks cheerfully.

"Yep, thanks miss!" the girl chirps.

Gakushuu swallows thickly, then exhales, long and deep. "Anything else you want to ask?" He questions acidly.

"Yeah," The girl picks up her spoon and claps her hands together, squeezing her eyes shut. "Itadakimasu."

Gakushuu's eye twitches.

The girl snaps open her eyes and digs into her food. "What was I saying..."

"You weren't saying anything," Gakushuu growls.

"Your minions," The girl suddenly brings up. "Do you consider them friends?"

Watching the girl warily, Gakushuu nods.

"That's good," The girl nods, then gets a faraway look in her eyes.

Gakushuu wonders briefly what she's thinking about, then reminds himself he doesn't care anyway.

"But if you really like her," The girl turns to him suddenly, her hazel eyes soft and a little determined. "I won't stand in your way. You can do whatever you want. Though, I still think that you can never split those two apart."

"So, how are you such a love expert?" Gakushuu decides to ask.

The girl falls silent, then tilts her head back. She gets the faraway look again, then snaps her eyes back to him. "I used to mess around with boys," She smirks, and Gakushuu's spooked by how sinister she looks. "Boys and girls. I'd pair them up and break them apart. I'd date a few and ruin them..." With a sad look in her eye, the girl looks down at her food. Gakushuu almost doesn't hear her whisper the next sentence. "That's probably why the only person I love got taken away from me..."

"Ruin them, huh," Gakushuu decides to continue with the interrogation, returning the favour.

"Yep~" The girl suddenly snaps a malicious look onto her face, smiling evilly. "I mean, the hearts of the people I knew were easy enough to mess around with. Tie a few knots, cut a few strings and you get drama that's more interesting than any _televi_ programme." There's loneliness and regret lacing her tone, however, and Gakushuu wonders why she's putting on a facade.

(Wait, he shouldn't care)

"Hmm," Gakushuu narrows his eyes as he stares at her. "Are you going to do that here?"

Shaking her head, the girl smiles ruefully. "People are harder here. You tug their hearts all you want, but that doesn't mean they'll go where you want them to or feel what you want them to. I can tie all the knots I want but they'll just split. I can cut all the strings I want, but they'll knot together. I'll have to level up if I want to manipulate anyone. So bothersome."

The facade again. She uses cruel words, said in a small, slightly admiring voice.

(He. Doesn't. Care)

Turning his attention to the window, Gakushuu and the girl don't speak until his own food arrives.

The brunette smiles and asks Gakushuu the same question she asks the girl, but he surprises himself by ordering a Seven Flavoured Hokkaido Soft Ice Cream dessert.

"Alright!" The waitress bustles off and the girl stares at him in jealousy.

"You are going to share, right?" She demands, slamming her palms on the table and half-rising from her seat.

"Why would I?" Gakushuu snorts.

"Don't be selfish, black heart," She yelps, throwing a sugar packet at him.

He glares at her and fires one back. Almost immediately, they have a mini-packet-throwing war over his steaming plate of ramen.

"Hey, break it up!" A male, a waiter, rushes over to them and confiscates all the complimentary sugar packets. "I will have to ask you to leave if you do that again," The waiter says severely.

"He started it!" The girl whines.

Gakushuu's jaw drops and he gives the girl his best dirty look.

"See sir, he's scary!" Flailing her arms about, the girl turns a puppy-eye look to the waiter.

Swallowing his normal personality, Gakushuu activates the charming personality he has in school. "My apologies sir. We were simply playing a game, but it seemed to have gotten out of hand. This will not happen again."

The waiter nods. "Alright."

When he finally walks away, Gakushuu feels someone kick him under the table.

"Will you stop with the petty tricks, plebeian," Gakushuu hisses. "You almost got us kicked out because I wouldn't share my ice cream with you."

"Mean!" The girl whines, and sulks by resting her head on the table, next to her finished plate of spaghetti bolognese.

"You can have a bit," He finally relents, annoyed.

"Yay!"

"But you have to do your best on the end of terms," Gakushuu says severely.

"Ehhhhhhh? I don't want it, then," The girl pouts. "It would totally blow my cover."

He's honestly surprised at her quick personality change.

"Too bad," He replies snarkily.

"Ass," The girl mutters.

Laughing to himself (he beat her, hah), Gakushuu picks up his chopsticks and digs into his ramen.

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"They look like they're having fun," Nagisa notes, smiling as she watching Kaede drop her head onto the table.

"Shuu-chan looks very smug," Karma laughs, then abruptly starts coughing rapidly.

"Karma!" Nagisa gasps.

A glass of pink liquid is placed next to the redhead.

"Be careful, Karma," Syaoran scolds lightly, thumping Karma on the back. Nagisa hovers about the two boys helplessly, squirming around.

"Karma," She says uselessly.

"I'm fine," Karma waves her off.

"Your finals are in two days, you know," Syaoran reminds him. "Drink up."

"Eww. It's probably one of Yuui-mama's ridiculously sweet medicines," Karma made a face.

"They work, Karma-chan, so hush," Yuui calls through the window. "Besides, you like sweet things."

Sticking out his tongue, Karma laughs. "You caught me~! But I should be going home. Lots to study."

"Why don't you stay over tonight?" Syaoran offers. "I can tutor you."

"Hmm," Karma taps his chin. "What do you think, Nagisa?"

"Wellllll," Offering Karma a smile, Nagisa weighs the pros and cons of the situation. After a moment, she nods. "It sounds like a good idea."

"'Kayyyy, prepared to be imposed on, Syao-chan," Karma confirms this with a flick of his hand, the hollers through the window behind the counter. "I'll be imposing on you, Yuui-mama! And stepping all over Kuro-papa!"

"Okayyyy~" Yuui replies.

"No way!" Kuro yells at the same time.

"Looks like this is going to take some time to negate," Syaoran sighs, then glances out of the shop's window. "It's looking pretty late. You had better take Nadeshiko back home, Karma. You can get your stuff, argue with your mom and return on your way."

"Syao-kun, you shouldn't be saying that to-"

"Kayyyy, let's go, Nagisa!" Grabbing her hand, Karma tugs her out of the shop.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

"I'll call you," Karma tells Nagisa as they part of the foot of her apartment building.

"Please," Nagisa smiles, then kisses Karma. "Tell me how the study session goes."

Karma salutes her and heads off.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

He doesn't call or text.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

Gakushuu finds out about the Class A and Class E bet right away the next day.

His four underlings splutter out glorified versions of the encounter, painting the class E students in such an evil light, Gakushuu knows they're lying. That and the fact that Kouyama, who relies on his brain and memorisation power and therefore dislikes untrue facts, and Ren, who is just honest - who knows why - both look uncomfortable.

"Tsugumi," Gakushuu calls. They're all in class, and his four underlings are gathered around his desk.

The aforementioned girl just raises her head from the numerous textbooks sprawled out around her desk. "Yes, Asano-kun?"

"Explain what happened in the library yesterday," Gakushuu instructs. He know that Omaeda Tsugumi is unlikely to lie to him.

She walks to his table and gives him a summary, repeating lines of dialogue she remembers and explaining the situation clearly and concisely.

"I see," Gakushuu nods to himself. So this is what that girl meant last night.

Tsugumi waits for him to give her further instructions.

"That's all," Gakushuu dismisses. The dark haired girl moves back to her own table and re-immerses herself into her studies.

"S-Sorry Asano..." Seo stammers. "I just wanted to bluff them with a dumb wager...I didn't think they'd accept."

"That's alright," Gakushuu says mildly. "Maybe, with this, we can turn up the heat a little in class A..."

The four of them exchange looks as Gakushuu thinks.

"Alright," Drawing a pleasant grin on his face, Gakushuu beams at his underlings. "Let's draw up the rules first, so there will be no complaints later. The winner of the bet can hand down only _one_ command - the details of which will be revealed after the results are released."

"Only one?" Kouyama asks. "That doesn't seem like enough."

"Don't underestimate Asano, Kouyama," Ren says smoothly, smiling at Gakushuu. Ah. Ren knows him well. "So, what will ours be?"

Cracking open his computer, Gakushuu looks calmly at his minions, then types at a rapid pace with only one hand.

He hears the class gasp around him.

 _Definitely put this in...and that...don't forget this, so Ren and Seo will be contented...also this, so that Kouyama won't complain...and this..._

When he's finished, he taps the enter button.

"To consent to this agreement," Gakushuu says smoothly, turning his computer around to face his underlings. "That is all," As they read, Gakushuu provides a narration as a sum-up. "Class E will pledge their subordination to the A Class as per these fifty clauses. In return, the A Class will lead the E Class as model students. It's a status-as-focus agreement, a win-win situation."

Kouyama snickers in his slightly spitty way. "One command encompassing fifty line items of codified solitude? That's what you call win-win? It's a slave contract, a slave contract!"

"Class E must line outside the main campus gates every morning to greet the arriving class A students with a smile...Class E students must address Class A students as 'sama' and 'dono' and must assist class A students in their studies whenever requested to...Class E students must load in and out equipment during school events on behalf of Class A...Class E students must wait on Class A students during lunch hours at the school cafeteria and provide Class A students with whatever food they request...Class E students must perform a show once a week for Class A. Class A will thereby critique the performance and Class E must strive for improvement in subsequent performances..." Araki reads allowed, swallowing thickly. "Wow."

"You came up with all of this just now?" Ren asks admiringly. "You sure are scary."

"Scary?" Gakushuu beams. "Perish that thought! This is just a little game between us students," Gakushuu narrows his eyes. "I've studied civics intently and thoroughly. I _could_ whip up a contract that would break a man." He sees a bit of fear in his underlings eyes and decides to face the rest of his classmates. "What I'm trying to say, everyone, is that if we play this game, we play for keeps!" He calls. "We must meet any and all opponent head-on and in all seriousness! This is the duty of the all-illuminating A Class!"

The class cheers as a whole.

Except for a few quiet souls.

"Asano-kun," Tsugumi is one of them.

"Yes?" He asks politely.

Tsugumi stares at Gakushuu, then states, simply. "This includes all Class E students?"

"Each and every."

"I see," She says, and no longer broaches the topic. Gakushuu does notice the coldness she now directs at him, not meeting his eye.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

 _He's sugarcoating the truth to rally the troops. We all can sense his dark thirst for power, but we all jump at the chance follow him anyway, believing in the victory that lies behind his hypocrisy. In the 'Ace' class, he is the biggest Ace of them all, Asano Gakushuu. There's not a student that can surpass him._

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Karma yawns, wide and large, a book balances facedown on his face.

"Come on, Karma-kun! Shape up and study right!" Korosensei demands, red and furious as he flickers from student to student, teaching and teaching and scolding (in Karma's case). "You know you have the best chance of getting the top score for everything!"

Nagisa walks over to the pair and tugs the book of Karma's eyes.

"Karma," Nagisa says reproachfully.

"It's fine," Karma waves his hand dismissively. "I have been studying, don't worry. 'Sides, Korosensei's teaching methods are top notch. I'll be fine."

"I hope so," Frowning, Nagisa picks up Karma's book. "Maybe you should try a little harder. Yuui-mama and Syao-kun should be free tonight, so revise with them."

"Nagisa-san! Back to your seat!"

"Yes," Nagisa nods absentmindedly, then touches her forehead to Karma's. "Are you alright?"

"Hmm?" Karma blinks hazily at her. As she thought. He'd been a little slow the whole morning, and had missed out seven opportunities to poke fun at Terasaka. Also, he hadn't called her last night.

"You've looked under the weather a bit today," Nagisa draws back. "Like I thought. Your forehead is hot."

"I'm fine."

"You're not."

"I'm fine."

"You're not."

"I'm fine."

"You're not."

"Nagisa," Karma says seriously. "Nagisa-chan," he amends when he notices their classmates watching the pair of them. "Drop the topic," He slides his bloodshot eyes over to Korosensei. "You know, Sensei, they way you've been going on and on these days...top this, top that...you sound crappy and boring, just like a normal teacher."

Korosensei halts next to Karma's table, eliciting protests from around the class.

"You know that those A class idiots have something up their sleeves," Karma sways lightly, and Nagisa grabs onto Karma's arm to ensure he doesn't fall.

"Relax, Karma," Okajima chirps, breaking the tension that had been mounting in the air. "What more do we have to loose?"

"A lot more than you think," Karma mumbles. "As long as we can smile, it means we still have something. As long as we have something, the main campus classes don't want us to have it."

If Karma is saying things like that, he's definitely not feeling well.

"Still," Kurahashi stands. "If we win, we can make them do anythinnnggg~" She spins in a circle. "I wanna use the cafeteria~! And have proper toilets! It's murder for us girls..."

"I had an idea about that!" Korosensei grins, laughing his 'nurufufufu' laugh. In a flicker of tentacles, he's at the front of the class, holding up a pamphlet. "How about we make them hand _this_ over?" He opens it to a certain page.

Everyone gasps.

"You've all always been at the bottom," Korosensei says thoughtfully. "That's why I'd like you to experience a lively battle for the top! An assassin must aim for the top-and bring it down."

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"Asano-kun has whipped up the whole school into a frenzy against the E Class," The Board Chairman says measuredly, walking through the rows of teachers frantically setting exam papers. Recalling what he had heard earlier that day, the Board Chairman smiles with pride. A bet between the E Class and the A Class. This should make for interesting documentation, whether or not his son won or not. "We should take advantage of this situation to improve our school's ranking."

"Rest assured," One teacher tells him, staring with bulging eyes at his computer screen. "Even the A Class will have the devil of a time trying to find the answers for these concentrated nuggets of information! These aren't really exam questions anymore - they're monsters!"

"Very good," the Board Chairman says measuredly. "I look forward to seeing how these all turn out."

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

Smug, Gakushuu props his chip up in his hands as he scrolls through his fifty terms.

Hidden in the other cruel conditions is one seemingly-innocent one -

'The E Class students must always tell the truth to the A Class'

This is what he had really been after. Once he finds out the secret in class E, he can use it to control his father _and_ the E Class.

After all, he has learnt from the best.

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"Do you think Karma's okay?" Nagisa asks frantically.

"For the millionth time, he's bleeding _fine_ ," Kaede groans. "We know you're both crazy about each other, but there's a limit to how much mush-i-ness I can ta-akeeee! You think so too, right Manami-chan?"

"Please don't drag me into this, Kaede-chan!" Manami splutters.

"She agrees," Kaede waves her hand dismissively.

"Don't feed me words!" Manami yelps. "N-Nagisa-chan, I think it's natural, though...for you to worry about Karma. I guess."

"He was a little quieter than usual," Kaede notes, then rolls her eyes. "He's usually super annoying. Today he was just normal annoying, like Sugino level annoying."

"I..." Nagisa swallowed. "Karma didn't call me last night..."

"Considering his personality, I'd say it's normal," Kaede says in a rather professional tone.

"But he didn't want to walk home together today," Nagisa says softly.

"It's called studies."

"But his eyes were all red...ah, I should just call Syao-kun and ask him how it went..." Nagisa mutters to herself.

Then, as if things could have not get worse, the sky opens up and pours water all over them.

"CRAP!" Kaede squeals.

"I have an umbrella," Nagisa starts when Kaede grabs her and Manami with strength surprising of a small girl like her. Darting through other pedrestrians with like-minds to them, Kaede drags them into an old-fashioned phone booth.

"Bleh, I'm all wet!" Kaede complains.

"I have an umbrella," Nagisa repeats, feeling water slide off her in rivulets.

"Well, why didn't you _say_ so," Kaede groans.

"She did," Manami sighs, looking just as wet as Nagisa feels.

"Let's head out then," Kaede nods. "Nagisa's umbrella should be big enough for-"

"Shh!" Manami abruptly hisses.

Surprised by her sudden harshness, Nagisa and Kaede freeze. Manami stares out of the phone booth, watching a particular couple standing a little ways off from them, sharing an umbrella.

"It's...!" Kaede breathes out.

"Sugino," Nagisa whispers. "And Yukiko!"

"Go for it, girl!" Kaede whisper-shouts.

At first the two just stay silent, then Yukiko starts up a light conversation about baseball.

"Are you planning on continuing it when you get to college?" Yukiko asks softly.

"Yeah," Sugino's eyes shine as he begins speaking about it, only cutting off when he sees Yukiko shut her eyes. "Sorry, am I boring you?"

"No, it's good to hear about," Yukiko says gently. "I mean, I don't know much about baseball outside of games."

"I can teach you the rules next time," Sugino reassures.

"I'd like that," Yukiko smiles.

"Why are they just standing there?" Manami asks softly.

"I don't care why, it's a treat for my eyes," Kaede replies with a wide grin.

"I'm going to have to be careful once I get into college, though," Sugino utters. "High school's one thing, but once I'm moved out of my parent's place, I'll have trouble taking care of myself, studying and having a sport to be devoted to. Plus, I hope to have a girlfriend-" he cuts off abruptly, looking at Yukiko apprehensively.

"Carry on," Yukiko says after a short pause. "I want to know about you, Sugino-kun."

"I-I hope to have a g-girlfriend by then," Sugino admits. "After seeing Karma and Nagisa, I kinda want to have that too."

"Seriously?" Kaede asks skeptically.

"Heh, I know what you mean," Yukiko smiles, then her facial expression suddenly turns serious. "Sugino-kun, do you have someone you like?"

It's painful as Kaede, Manami and Nagisa lean out of the telephone booth they're hiding in and watch Sugino and Yukiko. Yukiko grips the front of Sugino's uniform, her face tucked into his shoulder. Sugino doesn't say anything as he holds an umbrella over them, his hands reaching for Yukiko, as though he wishes to hold her, but he stops himself.

"Hug her, hold her, comfort her," Kaede whispers.

"Show her your feelings," Manami joins in, her voice just as low as Kaede's, sounding a little sad.

"Do _something_ ," Nagisa murmurs, hoping that Sugino will stop simply just...standing there.

"Yeah..." Sugino answers, sucking in a deep breath.

"Nagisa, you jinxed it," Kaede whisper-shouts.

"Argh, Yukiko-san's going to think that Sugino-kun likes someone else!" Manami whisper-wails.

"Sorry, sorry!" Nagisa flails about and almost falls out of the booth, Manami and Kaede squealing and grabbing the back of her waistcoat before she can hit the ground.

In the chaos, they almost miss Sugino's next words, uttered after a long silence between the two.

"Do _you_ like anyone, Kanzaki-san?"

"Of course I like people," Yukiko lets out a weak laugh. "I have Manami-san, Kaede-san and Nagisa-san after all. And don't forget Hara-san and Yada-san or Nakamura-san and Fuwa-san."

"I mean...do you have anyone you _like,"_ Sugino blushes.

Yukiko doesn't reply for a moment, her grip on Sugino's uniform front tightening.

"Yes..."

"Bleeding-" Kaede bits back her cussing.

The three girls fall silent as they continue staring at the two.

"Ah!" Yukiko suddenly lifts her head when a car honks loudly. "That's my father. Thank you for accompanying me, Sugino-kun!" Yukiko bows to Sugino.

"No problem," Sugino replies friendlily, waving at her. "Be careful, now!"

"Bye bye, good luck for end of terms tommorrow!" Waving back, Yukiko dashes into her father's car.

Sugino keeps up a smile and waves calmly until the car is gone. Then, he tilts his head back and brings a fist to cover his eyes.

"DAMMIT!" He yells, attracting strange looks.

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Karma doesn't call or text her again, so Nagisa leaves him a text about Yukiko and Sugino after Syaoran's class on the remaining three subjects that Chi hadn't covered.

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"Are you ready for the test, Nagisa-chaaaan?" Nakamura asks cheerfully as the two girls make their way through the halls of the school to take their end-of-term exams.

"If what Chi-chan and Syao-kun taught us comes out," Nagisa mumbles, feeling like a wilted flower.

"Aww, cheer up!" Nakamura raps Nagisa's backside with her pencil case, causing the smaller girl to yelp. "Chin up, everything is ninety percent attitude! I think I learnt that from Gintama."

"Don't be stupid," Nagisa grumbles, rubbing her sore butt. Cautiously, she drops a few steps behind Nakamura. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see Kataoka, Hayami, Okano and Kurahashi walking together. She debates dropping back far enough to gain Kataoka's protection, then decides against it.

"Heh!" Nakamura grins in an impish manner, a skip in her step as she spins on her heel and walks backwards, pointing her pencil case at Nagisa. "Stand up straight like a proper woman! From one Miss England to another, you have a pretty high chance of getting top score for English. We both do!"

"That's a bit..." Nagisa smiles, a little pained.

"This'll be rich," A snortling voice interrupts their conversation.

Nagisa blinks when she sees a plump boy with numerous pimples on his smug face, a skinny boy with a thick pair of glasses and long nose standing just behind him in the doorway of Class D. They both look familiar, but Nagisa can't place their names. The skinny boy has his elbow propped on the plump boy's, who has his hand propped against the door.

"So you guys made a foolish bet with class A?" The plump boy asks.

"Wonder what they'd make you do," The skinny one snickers.

"Uh, who are you again?" Nagisa asks cluelessly.

The two stare at her, looking miffed.

"You piece of E Class trash!"

"This is irritating," Nakamura sighs, opening her pencil case as she and Nagisa approach the classroom door.

Nagisa sees her tuck two lightning sharp pencils between her fingers, and then clench her hand into a fist.

"But I bet whatever they'd do, we'd get a bit of the spoils-" The plump boy's voice is abruptly cut off as Nakamura walks past him and sticks the points of the pencils into his nose and rips it out upwards.

"ARGHHH!" The plump boy screeches, blood spurting from his nose.

"You should know better than to interrupt a conversation between people," Nakamura says cheerily. "Plus I gave you an excuse for the bad marks you're going to get on your test. C'mon, Nagisa-chan!"

"Just call me Nagisa," Nagisa says after a moment, rushing to catch up with Nakamura. One of her pencils had snapped, but the other remains rigid. Nagisa watches, a little amazed, when Nakamura juggles the pencils with one hand.

"Well, it looks like we're first here!" Nakamura says airly, sliding open the door to the classroom where the E Students would be taking their tests.

"Yes-" Nagisa stops herself when she sees the figure sitting at a seat by the window. Her hair is short and purple-pink, with two long sections justting like pigtails and a familiar looking headband. Almost calling out, Nagisa stops herself in time when she sees the girl's face. The girl's eyes are so small, they look shut and she has plump, jutting out lips and a large nose.

Nakamura sums up Nagisa's feelings in one word. "Oh."

"Who's that?" Nagisa asks.

"Ritsu's proxy," Karasuma says. The two girls jump, not seeing him approach. The handsome man now leans against the doorframe of the classroom, arms crossed. "We couldn't get the principle to let an AI take part, so we had to settle for a stand in, the daughter of one of my superiors who knows how to keep her mouth shut, that Ritsu had personally tutored to take the exam." The two girls glance at the girl. "Do you have any idea," Karasuma says with barely concealed irritation. Nagisa glances at the older man and sees vexation painting his brow. "How it feels like to have the principle give you a pity-filled 'you've sure got it rough' look during those negotiations?"

"We're not worthy!" Nagisa and Nakamura gasp, bowing to Karasuma.

Karasuma makes a sound that Nagisa gasps at. It almost sounds like a proud laugh.

"Ritsu has a message for you guys, and so do I," Karasuma says warmly. "Good luck."

"Yes, sir!" The two girls chirp.

"Is Nagisa-kun in here?" A voice calls from outside the classroom as their classmates start filing in. Nagisa blinks and steps out of the classroom, seeing Omaeda Tsugumi staring at her.

"Omaeda-san..." Nagisa says awkwardly.

"Good luck," Omaeda surprises her by sweeping the blue-haired girl up into a hug. Nagisa squeaks, then softens. She and Omaeda had been friend, a term and three months ago.

"Same to you," She says softly.

"And you know what to do about Asano-kun," Omaeda does something that shocks Nagisa even more - she smiles. "That's why you have to win. So that he will listen to you."

"How do you know about that?" Nagisa asks, jaw dropping.

(It had happened a day ago, the day before the end-of-terms. She'd happened to run into Gakushuu, and whilst talking, the ginger had insulted her class loads and one thing had led to another until Nagisa had almost shouted at him.

Finally, the had both come to a decision.

Make use of the wager.

"If I beat you..." Nagisa hesitates, then squares her shoulders, looking Gakushuu in the eye. _If my class beats yours,_ she implies. "Please listen to what I say."

"Likewise," Gakushuu smirks, then extends his hand to her. "Shake on it."

Eyeing Gakushuu suspiciously, Nagisa takes his hand and shakes it.)

"I just do," Omaeda shakes her head, then departs.

Let the challenge begin, then.

No doubt Shuu-kun is uber confident about his winning ability, but Nagisa has faith in Karma.

Speaking of Karma...the exam has yet to start, and the redhead is already asleep at the back of the classroom.

Nagisa makes her way over to him, then pushes Karma's bands away from his forehead and kisses it. "Good luck," she says softly.

Karma sits up and takes her hand before she can move it away. He grins at her and kisses her fingers.

"Same to you," He says, but Nagisa notices the shaking tone in his voice.

"..." She closes her eyes, then smiles for Karma. "Yes."

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 **WHEW! FINALLY FINISHED IT!**

 **Sorry about that! Really!**

 **It's seriously late at night here and I haven't done my homework yet. *cracks knuckles***

 **I don't even feel that this chapter is very good.**

 **Okay. Fine. It's out. If I must, I can edit it later.**

 **The stuff not put in this chapter from the excerpt will be in the next :3**

 **ORGE MODE - ACTIVATE**

 **OKAY SO THIS LATE CHAPTER IS TOTALLY MY OWN FAULT BECAUSE I GOT SOME SORT OF WRITERS BLOCK AND I'M REALLY SORRY FEEL FREE TO SCOLD ME AS MUCH AS YOU NEED AISH**

 **Review replies (oh jeez...here comes the feeling of being an ass):**

 _ **Azuria1:** Uwah! thank you ^^ Sorry it's hard for you to recognise them :/ I wanted to make them bigger but I thought they'd become annoying after a while. I don't really know what I was doing with the Fai thing. Yeah. I'm really...yeah what was I thinking. Um. Yeah. Anyway, thank you and I hope you liked this!_

 ** _AnimeQueenMaya_** _: Whoa! Thanks XD Karma and Nagisa are currently topping the list of '_ _couples I want to write about' Thank you for the luck. I need it, my mid-years are in two weeks._

 ** _Demon Lord Luciela:_** _*rubs hands together* I couldn't wait for Asano either, though I realise I should have just written 7K words about him. *taps chin* *regret*_

 ** _AnimeQueen82:_** _Thank you so much and whoa! I don't blame you for taking so long ^^ I have hand experiences of reading until chapter like...thirty and not reviewing until I'm sugar high. Thank you so much XD_

 ** _Lyn29:_** _I'm glad too! Ah, they're so sweet some days! Oops, my updating took three months, heh..._

 ** _Guest:_** _Whoa, um, hee, thank you, that makes me very happy ^^ I may edit some chapters, for clarity and length in the future. Very far in the future...wow, so stay calm :3_

 ** _Misty Crystal:_** _It's okay :) My sister also uses a lot of curly lines :P It's cute. Terasaka was a little stupid, wasn't he? Happy ending...that's one way to put it XD Hazama is eternally the scariest...you're welcome X3_

 _ **DragonHero:** The guilt is pouting on...the guilt is pouring on..._

 ** _Marshmallow:_** _Yeah, it was pretty weird for me. For now, it's an interesting topic to talk about during English Oral :P Where you live sounds nice. There's weird people here too, but a lot less. We're usually a very private and somewhat-polite bunch, I assure you. I guess there's some resentment 'cause my school's pretty good *puffs our chest in pride* which also means the standard's high. *groan* I'll assume next time :3 The logic is a bit eh on me. I dunno about it honestly...I'm still debating it. (three months late *tears*) I'm glad you gave me the push to get them both to meet. I wanted to do it, but couldn't :P There was supposed to be an underlying storyline about Chihiro, but I couldn't fir it in in time, so I scrapped it for the foreseeable future. I may try writing about it in the extras...never mind. I'm too tired for extras today. Thank you very much whoa. I don't know about being an author, cause the country I live in is the definition of small country :P But it's a career I thought about briefly. (The choosing idea is interesting...maybe as the story progresses, I'll add it in) I really am sorry about the late update!_

 ** _NickyDawn:_** _YOU DO? Thanks! Haha those hashtags XD Bless you, I hope you didn't get judged too badly. I'm fine :P Mostly forgotten the encounter (especially 'cause the movie was so good) :P Karma's jealous comes the next chapter-oh oops. Spoiler alert?_

 ** _Guest:_** _*clears throat* That's too bad :P I just love Tsubasa XD can I spoil the manga for you? I'll assume no and just say that Fai ends up happy. It's okay. It's okay (I cried when I found out the actual story behind the two twins)_

 ** _KuroCiel:_** _(chapter 3:) I_ _am amazed at your username :O Thank you, if I got you to like something you don't usually, then I have succeeded *victory pose*_

 _(chap 7) Shhh, she was necessary :3_

 _(Chap 9) *does the look away thing*_

 _(chap 14) I am a sadist when it comes to Nagisa_

 ** _Amaya Kuruta:_** _You should be all better by now :3 I hope you managed to continue! Ah, I think I put too many OC's...in future I should make a list...Hazama cursed Terasaka XD On her own 'coz she likes Nagisa well enough! *panda hug*_

 ** _Marorin5:_** _*takes deep breath* I JUST LOVE AND HATE THAT FEELING WHEN YOU FINALLY FINISH AN ANIME AND YOU WANT TO CRY AND HUG ALL THE CHARACTERS AND JUST MOURN THE END OF A VERY GOOD SERIES EVEN THOUGH THE ENDING WAS BEAUTIFUL AND MAKES YOU JUST WANT TO SIT/LIE DOWN FOR SEVEN HOURS AND JUST REPLAY THE ENTIRE ANIME ALL OVER AGAIN IN YOUR HEAD(I said that all in one breath in my head you can try :P) Bless you ~ You're like my friend, she's crushing hard on Karma XD Eh really? I am a loud, proud Karmagisa shipper XD (hey can you give me the link to that story? The Fem!Nagisa being friends with the five virtuosos...) I'm glad you found this *shiny eyes* I don't mind you taking long to review and I am thrilled at the fact that I made you lowkey love them X3 VICTORY! (I don't know why he changed it! If Nagisa had been a girl *curls up into a ball* *whimpers* Uuuuwwwaaaaaa...! I wish he had followed his original plans...) Shuu-chan shall have his time. He may get the girl. Just which girl, I shall not say. Though it's obvious. The answer to your question on Sugino and Yukiko is above MUAHAHAHAHA I plan on making them a thing. Just maybe in the long future *hides* yeah. *whistles innocently and glazes over the thing about the mystery girl* (it is super obvious though) you can tell now, though XD You might be righttttt! Class E is so badass. I would love them to be my class. *is fangirling( I don't mind the length, I liked reading it ^^ and had fun replying to it :P I WATCHED IT AND THE THINGS THAT AMUSE ME MOST IS THAT HARA IS ALWAYS EATING AND FUWA HAS SHATTERED THE FORTH WALL AND TERASAKA BECOMES SO SHINY- *clears throat* Um. Yeah :P I have semi-gotten over my semi-writer's block. Sorry for the late update!_

 ** _J.C:_** _Welcome back XD Thank you for enjoying :3 Is it John Christopher? Maybe Just Checking? hmm..._

 ** _Guest Potato:_** _Hahahahahahahahaahahahahaha I'm sure you've worked it out XD_

 ** _Aipom4_** _: I heard it from reliable sources who I fangirled with. I think they heard it from Instagram?_

 ** _Dragon hero:_** _Yes, yes the window :) (it's an evil smile that may not be viewable)_

 ** _Guest:_** _I_ _'M SO SORRY!_

 ** _Yuki:_** _ARGHHH THE GUILT! I'M SORRY *flails around*_

 ** _ZENny Park:_** _.?_

 ** _Annoyed reader:_** _*takes down notes* Sorry :P The english is suppose to represent something between Karma and Nagisa. Does it really sound pretentious? hmm, I should italisce the word next time and just mention it in brackets...do you think it'd suit better? I'm not good with katakana, so I mostly just get my friend (who was from Japan) to say certain words for me (I think he thinks I'm a little crazy) and then I just write the pronounciation how it sounds. I guess I forgot to factor in the fact that he has lost some of her accent due to living here for a long time. Sorry about that :P_

 ** _EVA-Saiyajin:_** _(chapter 1)_ _I love wackiness. I am the wacky advocate! Whooooo!_

 _(Chapter 2): Yeah, serious changes *nods* Innate capabilities~ Oh, I should bring those up again :/ I keep forgetting_

 _(Chapter 3): Nagisa seems to be very reserved to me, at the beginning before his personality was made vibrant in the E Class. I guess I didn't really think much about it *taps chin* *makes note*_

 _(Chapter 6): I like kayano (lol) and the wackiness!_

 _(chapter 9): Hee hee_

 _(Chapter 10): *shifty eyes* I forgot also, actually :P_

 _(Chapter 12): Thanks!_

 _(Chapter 13): I struggled a bit with describing the sport, then watched kuroko no basuke for reference :3_

 _(Chapter 15): I LOVE HAYAMI_

 _(Chapter 17): Yeah, I guess not *taps chin*_

 _(Chapter 7): Somehow I felt that that scene was essential, so I repeated it... :P_

 _(Chapter 16): The second exam still needs to give Karma his awakening. His awakening is just a little different, but the same essentially. Because of Nagisa, yes :P The paintball matter...that was the first thing I planned after I released the first chapter. It's safely in my notes, and I hope I can find it when the time comes (it looks pretty far away, actually...) I'm trying to sorta stick to the main script. I have been wondering about branching out more, though._

 ** _Guest:_** _I hope you're alright! I feel really crap for only releasing this two weeks after your review. Hang in there, or, as we say here, jia you!_

 ** _AnimeQueenMaya:_** _Sorry, sorry :(_

 ** _Misty Crystal:_** _Sorry :'( I've finally updated o( O _ O)o_

 ** _Hikari Whitedragon:_** _Thank you XD - whoat this is recent!_

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	19. Chapter 18

**Warning: Someone gets their heart broken in here**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer** **: I don't own assassination classroom!**

 **Not much plot deviation in the beginning.**

 **...As for what Korosensei says to Karma, it's well, I guess it's weird.**

 ***Taps chin***

 **Oh well!**

 **I don't think this is as good as some of my other chapters :P I must be out of touch. Oh well, i hope you like it anyway!**

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If a single one of those kids forgot what I thought them, I'm going to stage a grand french kiss in public," Irina murmurs to herself, watching the school from her spot in the satellite campus. "And then pretend to break up with them dramatically, like a scene from one of the American films. What do you think, Karasuma?"

Next to her, Karasuma only sighs. "Don't overdo it."

"I hope Nakamura gets first," Irina hums, smirking. "It'll be so fun to see the Board Chairman's face...oh, how did the students look? You were just downstairs, right?"

Karasuma falls silent, then smiles. "They looked confident. I think they'll do fine."

"Good," Irina lets the silence stretch between them, still staring out of the window. The fastest pace subjects in the school are English, Maths and Sciences, which had been why she made sure to teach their English lessons in a Spartan way. The maths they know seem sufficient, but the ability of the class in the sciences is a little too varied to speculate.

She wants them to get their top marks.

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 _Chapter 18:_

 _Ugh, I forgot about the exam results_

 _OR_

 _School's out time - 1st period!_

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"I'm so glad exams are over!"

"I hope we show those A Class people good!"

Nagisa smiles at her classmates as she weaves through their midst and returns Nakamura's high five when the blonde holds out her hand to her. Squeezing to the back of class, Nagisa stops at Karma's desk.

"Yo, Nagisa," Karma says lazily, looking almost...fatigued.

"How was the exam?" Nagisa smiles, kneeling beside Karma's desk. Idly, she props her elbow on his table and leans her head against her arm.

"Eh," Karma tries to smile, but somewhat grimaces. "Probably didn't make top five."

"Oh," Nagisa frowns, then shakes her head. "Well, it doesn't matter much. You just need to get higher for finals."

"Those seem pretty far away, huh?" Karma sighs. He props his chin up with his hand. "Well, I'm going to get first soon. You just wait."

"I'll look forward to it," Nagisa replies with a smile. Reaching out with her free hand, she takes Karma's.

Karma squeezes her hand, then leans forward, slumping over his table.

"I'm glad the exams are over," Nagisa says softly.

Karma replies in a non-committal grunt.

"Let's go home," Nagisa coaxes Karma from his seat, picking up his bag.

"Mhhmmmm..." Karma half-walks, half-staggers after her. He looks a little zombie-like and Nagisa lets out a giggle. She leads Karma patiently from the classroom out of school and down the hill, heading towards the train station.

As they enter the train carriage, Nagisa starts speaking softly. "I'm a little worried about topping the subjects. Like...maybe we won't make it? That wouldn't be good. Considering Shuu-kun's personality, he has something devious planned. I'm scared for Kaede, Yukiko, Manami and everyone. I'm afraid Sugino will..."

Nagisa trails off when Karma releases a dry laugh. "We'll be fine. Stop fretting."

She falls silent a moment, then guides Karma into a seat as it opens up; he's so dazed he doesn't notice.

"Thank you," Nagisa tells him after he's properly seated.

"For what?" Karma asks.

"I'd tell you, but I'm a bit worried that you're too knackered to work it out," Nagisa frowns, and lightly touches the back of her hand to Karma's forehead.

It's burning.

"Wha!" Nagisa gasps. "Karma, we've got to rush you home!"

"Don't want," Karma scowls childishly. "Can't we go hang out at the mall or the arcade or something?"

"No, you're sick!" Nagisa shakes her head, and glances at the train map.

Two stops to go.

"Let's get you home," Nagisa tells him, calming herself. As she turns to face Karma again, she's surprised when he takes her chin in his hand.

"But you'll be lonely," Karma says seriously.

Nagisa blinks slowly, then gently holds Karma's wrist. Lifting his hand away from her chin, she speaks softly. "I'll call Meiko, Naruko and Chihiro if I get lonely. You need to sleep off whatever it is you're sick with." She leans forward and lightly kisses Karma's forehead.

He groans, quietly.

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"Hello?" Nagisa felt Karma's hand squeeze around hers as she sat by his bed, on her phone.

"Hey, Nagisa!" Kaede chirps over the line. "How's Karma doing?"

"Well enough to put wasabi in his mom's lipstick," Nagisa replies dryly. "And sugar in her eyeshadow."

"And pepper in her blush," Karma reminds her, grinning in all his sweaty glory.

"And pepper in her blush," Nagisa squeezes his hand back. "You went to the Isetan sale, right? How was it?"

"I fought hard, Nagisa! And now I'm a proud owner to an adorable skirt and a cute blouse!" Kaede sounds ecstatic as she yells. "There's so much cute stuff here! I can't decide what else I want to buy..."

"Sounds like fun," Nagisa laughs. "Don't get too violent."

"Yes, yes," Nagisa can practically hear Kaede roll her eyes. "Don't worry! I'm small, I slip through and snag stuff easily. Somewhat easily. I can't wait to take home my haullll~!"

"Good job," Nagisa tells her.

"Yep," Kaede laughs. "I'm going to stop by a ramen bar first, so bye bye~"

"Bye bye," Nagisa bids.

There's a click as Kaede hangs up.

"She sounds energetic," Karma muttered enviously.

"It's your own fault," Nagisa answers, stowing her phone. She stands, then tries to pull her hand from Karma's. He squeezes tighter. "Karma, I have to change the cloth from your forehead," Nagisa says softly.

Karma nods dismissively, pressing his lips against the back of Nagisa's hand. "I'm fiiiiine."

"Says Mr 39.8 degrees," Nagisa responds, peeling the warm, damp cloth off Karma's head.

"Annnnnd now I feel like crap again," Karma pouts, releasing her.

"Small sacrifices," Nagisa replies, dipping the cloth into the water bath she drew. She lays the now-cool cloth on Karma's forehead again. "You should have taken better care of yourself."

"Maybe so, but I'm confident in my English and Sciences," Karma responded cheerfully. "I think I may have done good on those. My brain went all fuzzy during maths though."

"Terrible," Nagisa mumbles, seating herself by Karma's bed again. He almost immediately takes her hand, as if he cannot stand to not be in contact with her.

She closes her eyes.

It turns out that Karma had a fever, and also overworked himself.

That silly redhead.

Now, after the exams, they are on the third day of Karma's illness. Nagisa had been visiting and nursing Karma everyday, since Mr and Mrs Akabane are crazy busy. Karma had been put under house arrest, confined to his bed. Mrs Akabane had insisted that Karma could just 'sweat out' the fever, which had been why they hadn't gone to the clinic.

It is also the reason why Karma is on his bed, free from all non-bed items for once, and completely piled with blankets. He appears to be overheated, but Mrs Akabane had insisted. Her logic is a bit...

Nagisa feels herself yawn.

"You should rest," Karma tells her.

"So should you," She replies tiredly, scrubbing at her eyes with her left hand. "The invalid should sleep more than she who is caring for the invalid."

Karma only rolls his eyes, shuffling closer to the wall side of his bed. Reaching out, he guides her onto his bed, on top of the layers of blankets. "Just nap. I'm not invalid."

"Right," Nagisa says a little sarcastically. It's testimony to her fatigue that she's being sarcastic. She's not sarcastic by nature at all. "I'll be the invalid once I c-catch y-your..." Her voice fades off as she yawns.

"It's fine, I'll nurse you," Karma replies cockily.

"Terrible," Nagisa murmurs, already getting comfortable.

Karma squeezes her hand.

"You know it."

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"Exam results!" Kaede sings happily as the four girls move towards classes. "I can't wait to see what. I. Gotttt!"

"Is it that time already...?" Nagisa sighs. "I'm so sure I bombed my English."

"If you bombed it, I bombed it," Kaede responses loftily. "Right, Manami-chan?"

"Yes," Manami nodded, adjusting her glasses. "If Nagisa didn't do well, there is no way I did well..."

"Then it's settled!" Kaede says cheerily.

"You can't decide whether it's okay or not based on that..." Yukiko sighs.

"Yes, I can," Kaede huffs.

"Ah, but I've heard that native English speakers at bad at Japanese written tests," Manami murmurs.

"Eh?"

"Let's go in," Nagisa pushes open the door to their classroom.

"Ah, good morning," Isogai calls as the girls enter.

"Hi!" Kaede beams, waving. Nagisa smiles behind her hand a little when she sees Isogai with Maehara, as normal.

"Good morning," Manami and Kanzaki greet.

"Ah, um, morning..." Nagisa blinks.

"Is Karma better, Nagisa-san?" Isogai asks.

"Yes, much!" Nagisa beams. "He's good to come to school today, but Mr Akabane told me he wanted to prank Karma, so I was to leave without him."

"Hey, hey, no matter how you look at them, Karma-kun's family's not normal," Kaede groans.

"Well, it's happy and that's what counts," Nagisa and Kaede move to their desks and sits down.

Sighing, she glances at Karma's seat.

 _Would he come in time?_

 _Knowing Mr Akabane, Karma may not-_

"Yo," Karma kicks the door open.

There's a moment in class when everyone just glances at Karma in surprise.

"It's Karma!"

"He's back!"

"Whooooaaaa!"

"I thought he died..."

Ignoring them, Karma saunters to his seat and dumps his bag.

"Karma, are you okay?" Nagisa calls. "Did Mr Akabane-"

"He tried. I got him back, though," Karma replies sunnily. "You shouldn't come to my house for a while, Nagisa."

"Okay," Nagisa turns her attention to Kaede, who was staring at Karma as though he had just grown a second head.

"Why not? Your house," Kaede asks.

"We're currently having a bug war," Karma says nonchalantly. Having becoming accustomed to Karma and his father, Nagisa only nods absently.

"A what? Don't you mean big?" Kaede gapes.

"No, I definitely mean bug," Karma replies.

"Do you think Korosensei knows the results already?" Nagisa brushes past Kaede's disbelief.

"Um, I, I, um," Kaede visibly decides to ignore Karma's bug mention. "Yeah, I wouldn't put it past Korosensei to peek," Kaede shrugs.

"They post the top 200 on the board," Karma pointed out. "He probably knows from there."

"Oh right!" Kaede straightens. "I hope I made it on!" Excitedly, she turns to Nagisa. "Nagisa, treat me to pudding if I made it?"

"Sure," Nagisa blinks, surprised at Kaede.

"Yay!" Kaede cheers.

"Hey I'm coming too," Karma frowns at Nagisa.

"Then you have to pay," Kaede demands. "Cause you're a boy."

"That's sexist," Nagisa scolds immediately.

"It's fine," Karma brushes off Nagisa's concern. "I don't mind paying for you, Nagisa. However, the pudding girl pays for herself."

"No!" Kaede cries out. "Nagisa, treat me, please?"

"Why should she?" Karma narrows his eyes at Kaede.

"Calm down," Nagisa pats Karma's elbow, the nearest she can reach since she's sitting and he's standing. "I don't mind treating Kaede, because she's a friend."

"Fine," Karma relents. "Just don't let her make you spend too much."

"You're coming too, aren't you?" Nagisa reminds him.

Just then, Korosensei slithers into class.

Which immediately triggers a sudden rainfall of anti-sensei bullets and knives.

"Did it work?" The excited murmurs of the E Class fills the room.

"Depending on gravity is too slow," Korosensei says from the other side of the room. "It was easy for me to dodge all the knives and bullets. You are all still amateurs."

"Damn," Mimura mutters. It had been him who thought up the trap.

Out of the corner of her eyes, Nagisa sees Isogai smile. "Sorry, sensei. It was sort of a reminder of our relationship."

"You are forgiven, Isogai-kun," Korosensei moves to the teacher's desk. "Now, for your results..."

In Kunugigaoka, they will receive both their ranking and their results at the same time.

"I'll go ahead and announce them out loud," Korosensei pats the folders he carries against the podium. "Starting with English. First in Class E..."

There is a tense silence.

"And first in the grade! Nakamura Rio-san!" Nakamura's paper drifts to her desk. No doubt Korosensei had just given it to her.

"Uhuhuhu," Nakamura smirks, fanning herself with the grades sheet.

"A perfect score," Korosensei passes Nakamura her paper. His face is scarlet, with a round circle. He's pleased. "I was a bit worried since you weren't always motivated."

Nakamura laughs. "Eat that, sensei. Don't forget that means one tentacle!"

"Yes, yes. However, we have an unexpected surprise," Korosensei grins.

There's a few murmurs.

Kaede leans across the aisles to Nagisa. "What is it? What do you think?"

"Joint first with Nakamura-san..." Korosensei opens a folder. "Shiota Nagisa-san!"

Nagisa startles. Huh? She...what?

"Joint first?" The class explodes.

"That's two tentacles and only one subject!" She hears Maehara shout, ecstatic.

"Our England girls did it!"

"Whoop!"

Nagisa got her paper back and stared at it. She had gotten twentieth for English at mid terms. Now she was first?

"Karma-kun also did well," Korosensei returns all the papers in a flash. "However, he made a few careless mistakes."

Karma grimaces at his position. Fifth place, with 94 points.

"Seeing as how two of you achieved a top score, that's two tentacles for your destruction pleasure," Korosensei marks two of his tentacles with tiny flags that announce 'reserved for destruction'.

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Meanwhile, in the A Class

Seo stares at his results in horror. He...he's...fourth in the level?

An equally horrified Gakushuu stares at his results sheet without so much a visible twitch in his brow. He's third. Third for English.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

"In addition, seeing how you have a bet with class A..." Korosensei trails off when he sees the expectant faces of the E Students. "Well, I'll let you see for yourselves. Now, moving on to Japanese literature..."

"The top in Class E is Kanzaki Yukiko!"

Kanzaki looks just as surprised as Nagisa did.

The class, once more, exploded with noise.

"Go Yukiko-chan!" Kaede screams, leaping to her feet. "Whoop!"

"Congrats, Kanzaki!"

"Whoa!"

"However, the one who took first in the level was Asano Gakushuu," Korosensei announced regrettably. "Do not be down, however. You have improved by leaps and bounds, Kanzaki-san."

Kanzaki lowers her lashes to look at her marks. 96. She's second in the level, at the least. Improving from being twenty-third.

"Man, that Asano is really strong," Maehara grumbles. "He's totally racking up points. A hundred? And first in the subject."

"He was only one point away from Nakamura and Nagisa, too," Mimura shudders. "The tests were tons harder than midterms, but he still aced them…"

Isogai lowered his head. "Just what you'd expect from the guy who's number one in the nation. If he kept his spot on the other subjects..."

"We probably don't stand a chance," Sugaya groans. "The five virtuosos are one thing, but Asano's the real one we all have to beat."

"Otherwise, taking the top spots will be impossible, huh?" Okajima shakes his head.

"It's my pleasure to say that Karma-kun achieved fourth," Korosensei adds, smirking at Karma as he gives out the papers in a whoosh of air. "Good job."

Karma's cheeks burn red as he snatches his paper from the air. Nagisa knows he had been aiming for First. And that he feels humiliated.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

Meanwhile, in class A...

Ren presses his lips together. Third wasn't _quite_ what he had in mind...

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

 _They would have to beat Asano for the top place..._

Nagisa clutches her paper close. It'll be fine. It will be. She's sure.

"Continuing next is...social studies," Korosensei opens his third folder. "Class E's top scorer is...ISOGAI YUUMA! And top in your level is..."

Nagisa's paper crumples.

"Congratulations! Isogai-kun beat Asano-kun and cinched the first spot!"

"Yeah!" Isogai yells, the class bursting in loud cheers along with him.

"In the social studies exam, placing first is hard enough," Korosensei praises. "With all the tricky questions. Good job, Isogai-kun."

"Yuuma, how much did you get?" Without asking, Maehara plucked Isogai's paper out of his hands. And stared. "Ninety-bleeping-seven?!"

Nagisa filtered the swear word mentally.

"Hiroto! Language!" Isogai gapes.

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"..." Gakushuu narrows his eyes at his marks. 95. He's second.

Araki twitches. 93. He's fourth.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

"Now we're at two wins and one loss!" Fuwa crows, gleeful.

"Next up is Okuda!" Kimura says excitedly.

"Come on," Kaede says under her breath, as if the papers hadn't already been marked.

"Class E's top scorer in science is...Okuda Manami!" Korosensei announces, to no one's surprise. "And top in the level is…"

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

"Asano Gakushuu of Class A, the Board Chairman would like to see you," A mechanical voice announces over the speakers.

Wordlessly, Gakushuu stands. He walks to the door without looking back.

"We've lost to the E class…" Kouyama growls.

"We've lost the bet…" Araki sighs. "We're not in a good position.

"Heh," Kouyama glares at his table. He had gotten 95 for his science.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

"Magnificent, Okuda-san," Korosensei cheers. "You were also top in the level!"

Okuda perks up, her dark eyes shining.

"How much did you get?" Kaede shouts as Okuda collects her paper.

"98," Okuda replies shly. The class busts out confetti.

"That's three wins and two losses!"

"Even without waiting for the math results, three A's beaten!"

"That tentacle's all yours, Okuda!"

"Then we get what we wanted in this bet!" Kimura cries gleefully.

"I'm so glad!" Kurahashi beams.

The class begins to chatter excitedly, before Takebayashi reminds of the last subject.

"What's left is math."

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Asano storms through the halls.

"We lost to the E Class," Kouyama attempts to pull his expression into something less smug. "It's humiliating."

"Well, we beat them on total score," Seo crosses his arms. "There's that."

"I got my own back against the shit who stole fourth place from me," Kouyama smirked. "I knew his high marks was just a _flub_! He didn't even try that hard, the scub. Hah!"

"He's ninth, though," A piece of paper drops on the desk where the four out of five virtuosos are gathered. "And that so called flub lasted from year one to three?"

"Gah! Omaeda!" Kouyama glares at the girl. "What did _you_ get?"

"Eleventh," Omaeda replies cooly, not looking the slightest bit embarrassed. In fact, she looks a bit ticked off, Ren privately thinks. "Also I think it's interesting how he can get ninth despite being sick during the exams."

"How do you even…" Araki starts.

"I was informed by his girlfriend," Omaeda half-shrugged, surprising the four boys.

"That short ass girl?" Kouyama gaped.

"The cute girl," Omaeda corrected. She glanced to the window, as though she'd be able to see up the mountain to the E Class by doing that.

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"Karma?" Nagisa drifts over to Karma, who had stormed out of class. In the end, Asano had gotten a hundred for math.

Karma is nowhere near second at 85. He was tenth place.

"Nagisa-chan…" Karma doesn't look at her, crumpling his paper in his hands. "Not now."

Nagisa lowers her head.

After a moment, she gives Karma a kiss on the forehead and returns to class. "Come back, okay?"

"Yeah," he waves at her absently. He finds a tree to duck behind, and grinds his teeth together. Angrily, He crushes the papers again. Ninth. Ninth. He's dropped from the top five. Tenth. He almost barely scraped into the top ten. Number ten was only one point behind him.

"The force of Class A is mighty indeed," a familiar voice oozes into his ears. That damned octopus…! "They monopolise the top six ranks in overall scores for the five subjects. The best overall scores in the E class were from Kataoka-san and Takebayashi-san, both joint seven. Which is to be expected. Everyone in the A class studied like mad, too. Not to mention, the difficulty of the tests were greatly increased."

"What are you trying to say?" Karma half-snaps, half-sulks.

"You overworked yourself, didn't you?" Korosensei's face slowly edges into Karma's line of sight. "I bet you thought 'I'm so cool! I'll ace the exams, so I'll just put a little more effort in!' Next thing you know, you're as ill as a black plague patient."

"It's not as drastic as that!" Karma snaps.

"Is that so?" Korosensei grins. "How embarrassing!"

Karma looks away, his cheek flaming up. Korosensei is way too sharp. His sickness had bothered him intensely. More so when Nagisa took care of him the whole way through. She was, after all, a small, sweet girl who he has known for five years. She is also the one person Karma holds above all others.

To make her waste her time to care for him…

He is a horrible person.

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"Congratulations on maintaining your first place," The Board Chairman rumbles out. He probably has that smug look on his face, even as he faces the window instead of Gakushuu. "Or, so I would say."

Gakushuu inhales.

"If not for a certain wager you made with the E Class," the Board Chairman continues. "A wager that you lost. The entire school knows about this. You'll have trouble refusing the E Class's request now." He turns. "What will you do? Want the school to save you?"

It's not the smug expression.

The look on the Board Chairman's face is none other that mocking concern, which is just as bad. Gakushuu's hands slowly, slowly, fist themselves up.

"No," he growls. "It's fine."

A smile stretches across the Board Chairman's face, and he stands, walking around the desk as he speaks. "I believe you said you would put a collar on me and keep me as a pet. Or attempted to disclose my nonexistent secrets." The Board Chairman stopped by Gakushuu's side, his purple eyes opened into huge, snake like eyes. Slowly, the Board Chairman tilts his head. "You certainly talk big for a whelp who cannot even win a bet against his peers."

Gakushuu grits his teeth, his fingernails digging into his palms. He doesn't try to hide his fury anymore.

That.

Damned.

Class.

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"Four students have gained the right to destroy one of my tentacles. Nakamura-san, Nagisa-san, Isogai-kun, and Okuda-san. You contributed nothing - not to this assassination, and not to this wager. Do you understand?" Korosensei hovers over Karma like some kind of demented conscience.

"There's a thin line between pushing yourself enough and working too hard," Green stripes appear on Korosensei's face, and suddenly Korosensei fell upon him, pinching and pulling Karma's cheeks, poking and prodding his face. "An assassin who oversharpens his blade until it is but a skewer is not much of an assassin at all. He's just an inexperienced brat with a toothpick," Karma feels his blood boil hot under his skin, and clenches his jaw to refrain from exploding. If he exploded and attacked, Korosensei would dodge, which would be double the humiliation.

"Are you saying I shouldn't have worked so hard?" Karma snarls.

"I'm saying you should have known your limits," Korosensei chides. "No assassin is infallible. We must prepare for all unfortunate circumstances. Did you ever consider a plan B? No doubt you had been showing fever symptoms for a while, yet you kept going until your body broke down. If you're so knowledgeable, you should know that you have a limit. Becoming sick, and from overwork, no less! How shameful! I bet you even wanted your girlfriend to admire you! Instead, she wound up nursing you for a full three days, no, four!"

Him mentioning Nagisa is the straw it takes to break Karma's back.

"Tch!" Karma slaps off Korosensei tentacle and storms off. He crams his fists into his pocket and walks off, trying to stop himself from trembling.

Why is Korosensei scolding him for working hard?! He only…wanted to impress Nagisa, and rub dust in Gakushuu's face.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

"Wasn't that too much?" Karasuma asked, walking the redheaded boy skulk away. "You mocked him for working hard."

"Do not worry," Korosensei watches Karma too. "I only cut him down because he would spring back up. He has been gifted with much talent. However, those with talent usually lack experience. There's the danger of training him up without knowing true competition, since he can keep winning without much effort. If great talent learns the frustration of defeat, of humiliation early on, it can grow stronger," Korosensei sighs. "Despite, all good assassins must know their limits. In life outside school, we rarely get a second chance at things like this. When the students are young, they must learn their boundaries and find out how fare they can push. If not...they may drive themselves to their own demise. Overall, exams are," Korosensei begins walking towards the E Campus. "An opportunity to correctly teach students the meaning of winning and losing, of strength and weakness. Soak up stacked servings of successes and setbacks, my students! Learn what it means to win and lose! It's such an important lesson," Korosensei halts, looking up at the sky.

"Yet I only learnt it at the end."

"..." Karasuma watches him. There's a lot more to this teacher than what meets the eye.

 _(But…_

"I understand all that, but was it necessary to mention his girlfriend?" Karasuma asks.

"Aren't you jealous too?!" Korosensei yelped. He whirled around, arms flailing. "He's only fourteen, and he has such a dependable girlfriend who obviously loves him! I'm so jealous! I'm so jealous, I'm so jealous! I want a cute girlfriend too! Preferably one with big boobs! H cups, no G cups, no, even E Cups! I'll even take D! Ugh, jealous, jealous, jealous!"

"...Don't bring your perversion to the classroom.")

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"Now everyone," Korosensei announces in front of class. "You did an excellent job during finals! You all cinched three out of five of the top places for the subjects," Nagisa can't help herself. She glances at Karma, only to see him reclining in his chair, a bored expression on his face. "Shall we start the assassination? The four can choose any tentacle they like. Privately, Korosensei smirks. _I can lose four, no problem. Now, six would have been a little hard…_

"Oi, wait right there, octopus," Terasaka calls.

"Nyu?" Korosensei blinks, turning his attention to Terasaka, Muramatsu, Yoshida and Hazama, who stand in front of his desk.

"We've got more than four in the top spots." Terasaka crosses his arms.

"Huh?" Korosensei is genuinely puzzled. "No, there are three. Out of English," Korosensei counts them out on his tentacles. "Japanese literature, Social Studies, Science and Math-"

"Stop playing dumb," Terasaka interrupts, slapping away Korosensei's tentacles. "Yeah, there's those five, English, Japanese, Social Studies, Science, Maths, and Home Ec!" He slaps down four sheets of paper. All four have red '100's on them.

"H-Home economics?!" Korosensei gasps, horrified.

"No one said what subjects we had to ace?" Terasaka smirks. All of them are smirking, actually. Korosensei feels sufficiently intimidated.

"Good thing we all had a hand in this scheme," Hazama says smugly, her hand rubbing her jaw.

"Wait, but home ec isn't really a-"

"'Isn't really a' _what_ , sensei," Karma calls from the back of the class. His expression tells Korosensei that he's taking his revenge. "Why, Home ec is the _hardest_ subject of them all."

"Don't go back on your word, Korosensei!" Okajima shouts.

"Four of us got top in the most important subject of all, home ec!" Sugaya grins from ear to ear.

"That's eight tentacles in all!" Kurahashi cheers.

"E-Eight?!" Korosensei gasps.

Nagisa laughs to herself. Korosensei looks to have lost all hope in his body. As the class begins a cheer of 'Eight! Eight!', Isogai speaks over them to call to Korosensei.

"Oh, and we've been talking too, Korosensei," the class calms down as Isogai speaks. "We'll use our prize from the A Class wager to help with our assassination."

"What?" Korosensei asks in english.

Nagisa stifles a giggle at his expression.

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The end-of-term ceremony came before they knew it. And there was still one thing the E Class had to do.

"Oh, oh, here he comes," Terasaka calls smugly. "Our great and honorable Student President." He is, as usual, with Muramatsu and Yoshida.

Flanked by the virtuosos, Asano brushes past the delinquents with a short. "What do you want? I'm too busy with the end of year ceremony to deal with the E Class."

"Not so fast," Terasaka sets a hand on Gakushuu's shoulder. "Aren't you forgettin' something?"

The E class stands in front of him, all packed in a loose box. Isogai stands in front of them, one hand on his hip. Gakushuu grits his teeth.

"We had a bet, Asano, where the winner could make any one demand," Isogai reminds him. The E class giggles. "We sent out terms over email. I trust there are no problems?"

The virtuosos seem extremely irritated, all their faces twisted in one form of disgust or another.

"Don't even try pretendin' it was all just a joke!" Terasaka adds, moving to the E Class. "We could always add Home Ec to those five subjects. 'Course, we'd still win."

The class watches the Terasaka gang with some amusement at their smugness over their full marks for Home Economics.

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"You sure got the wool pulled over you eyes," Irina leans out of the staff room window, staring at the ground outside. "By those punks, no less."

"Yes, thought their argument was rather tenuous, but I'm glad," Korosensei hums. "Since home Ec isn't on any of the entrance exams, home economics teachers tend to set whatever they like onto the exam. That puts the E Class at an overwhelming disadvantage, since I'm their only teacher. They must have put in some serious research and effort into studying to get the better of me. With their creative thinking in finding a loophole and the power to focus on attacking it, I'd say they fit perfectly in my classroom."

Irina smiles.

"By the way, why do we have to stay behind?"

"Karasuma-sensei told us not to come to the closing ceremony," Korosensei reminds her sulkily.

"That's cause you're an octopus," Irina snorts.

"That's cause you're a bitch," Korosensei replies in an identical tone.

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At the end-of-term ceremony, Nagisa is surprised when Karma attends, standing leisurely in front of Isogai as though it isn't the first time he had ever attended school wide events.

Isogai seems to have picked up on the same thoughts as Nagisa.

"Hey, Karma," Isogai whispers. "Since when do you attend school wide assemblies?"

"Well, if I skip now, it'll look like I'm running away or something," Karma rolls his eyes. "And no thanks."

"Huh…?"

"Storehouse beach," Nagisa hears Nakamura say to Kurahashi.

"Storehouse," Kurahashi repeats back, her accent thick. "Uoo…?

Nagisa turns and sees the familiar plump face of Ritsu's proxy.

"Oh…" She shudders.

"Karasuma-sensei!" She hears Sugaya hiss in a sharp whisper. "Ritsu's proxy is too distracting! I can't concentrate."

"Suck it up," Karasuma replies in his usual stone face. "This is to keep Ritsu from being exposed as a machine. She's my immediate supervisor's daughter. She's tight-lipped and won't ask questions. Her grades improved due to Ritsu's tutoring, so my supervisor's also in a good mood."

"She's been next to me since exams," Sugaya stares at Ritsu's proxy, resentful. "My concentration took such a hit, I ended up being last in class."

Sugaya is ninety-fifth in the level, Nagisa knows, which makes her smile. "Its around the middle of the level."

"Huh?" Kaede asks.

"Nothing," in front of them, the man on stage begins to speak.

"Now, it may be summer vacation, but don't slack off. Er, um..." The man on stage glances at the E Class "You don't want to end up like the E Class, do you?"

 _Even his usual E Class insults are failing._ Nagisa sees the dark looks of all the faces of the 'normal' students.

All because the E Class ended up in the top spots. Nagisa giggles.

Korosensei may not have been with them, but they held their heads up highing, not letting the death looks of their fellow schoolmates bother them.

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 _The final exams made all the students more aware of their performance._ The Board Chairman smiles as he watches the end-of-term closing ceremony. _Feeling humiliated and threatened by the E Class, they'll push themselves strive even harder. Even at this unusual time, when the Earth's existence hangs in the balance, my educational principles are functioning flawlessly. But that will only be possible for as long as we have a proper End Class._

 _Measures must be taken while the school is out for the summer_. The Board Chairman's fingers curled into his palms, and he squeezes.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

"Shuu-kun," Gakushuu hears someone call after the end-of-term ceremony.

Gakushuu pauses on his way back to class and turns to look at the caller. It's Nagisa.

"Nagisa!" He turns and offers her a tight-lipped smile.

"You wanted to speak to me, remember?" Nagisa reminds him.

"But my class lost the-"

"I've considered," Nagisa smiles, but it is too dry for his liking. "It's unfair for us to use a wager to let friends talk. I'll wait outside."

Gakushuu considers making Nagisa wait, but decides against it. He quickly wraps up the packing of the end-of-year ceremony, rushing out.

"Come with me," he waves her over to the back of the school, near the place where the E Students have to hike through the forest to get up to their campus. No one really comes here, except the E Students, who are not there at all.

"I'll be quick," Gakushuu faces Nagisa. He swallows, then sucks in a breath.

And exhales. "I love you!" He shouts. "Please go out with me."

Silence.

 _Then,_

"I'm sorry," Nagisa says.

Even though he had been expecting it, Gakushuu still flinches.

"I'm sorry, Shuu...Asano-kun," Nagisa continues. "I cannot return your feelings."

 _Asano_ …Gakushuu flinches at the way she purposefully uses his surname to distant herself from him.

"You're a precious friend, but that's all you'll ever be," Nagisa says firmly. "I love Karma."

"I'm more dependable than he is," Gakushuu mutters. "I'm number one in the country. You know, you know Karma's volatile-"

"I don't care," Nagisa interrupts, which is uncharacteristic of her. Gakushuu sees her expression. It's one he's never seen before. Her cheeks are tinted red, and she's gripping her elbows and glancing to the left with a distant look in his eyes. "I don't need a calm person. I just want Karma."

"That's…!" Gakushuu swallows. "Why can't it be me, Nagisa?"

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From behind a nearby tree, a girl watches, her eyes unreadable.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

"I love Karma," Nagisa says softly.

"I can wait," Gakushuu says almost crossly. "Four years, five years-"

"I've loved Karma for four years," Nagisa intersects quietly. "I don't think this is something that can be so easily changed. Even if it is, Asano-kun, you are like a brother to me. An older, dependable brother."

Each word feels like a stab to his heart.

"I probably will never be able to like you. It's impossible," Nagisa looks up, meets his eyes. "Most of my head is filled with Karma. It's difficult to concentrate on many other people. I can focus on my friends, and some relationships, but I am not even going to entertain the thought of ever breaking up with Karma," Nagisa pauses. "Touch wood," She adds, and walks over to a nearby tree and taps it.

Gakushuu feels his lungs splintering. Every breath of his hurts.

"I love Karma," Nagisa smiles. "That's all there is to it."

Gakushuu doesn't say anything, then grips the fabric of his pants.

"It's impossible if it's me?" He asks, quietly so his despair in his voice doesn't show.

"It's impossible," Nagisa confirms. "Please give up on me."

"I see…"

"Please give up on me. I can't ever love you back," Nagisa repeats. "Never in that way."

At the back of his mind, an answer springs. _You can, in human lives, nothing is ever confirmed. You can probably learn to love me if you try._

 _You're only fifteen, and only just. You can't say 'can't ever' so definitely. You can't say 'never'._

 _I'm a better choice than Karma. We're the same appearance-wise, but I'm more dependable, I'm more reliable, I'm more likely to succeed, I'll treat you better…_

For some reason, Gakushuu can't bring himself to say it.

No doubt, Nagisa would have a reply for his words. Other replies that hurt as much as her words did before.

He feels as though he may cry in a bit.

"I hope we can continue to stay friends," Nagisa says softly. "If you would rather cut your ties with me, though…"

"I understand," Gakushuu nods. His chest constricts, and he manages out a hurried. "I'll let you know."

Nagisa understands what he wants. He sees her open her mouth once, twice.

She glances at him once more, then hurries up the mountain without a second glance back.

She had just confirmed that he was of no romantic interest to her.

And Gakushuu slowly crouches.

 _Shit._

It really _hurts_.

Why the hell? He grips his chest. It feels as though he has a medium sized donkey sitting on it. Gakushuu forces himself to inhale, and exhale, but every breath feels as though a thousand knives are rushing down his windpipe.

He doesn't know how long he spends crouched over, clutching his chest. The only thing he does is breath. People almost never come here, after all.

There aren't many cameras either. He had brought Nagisa and him to a blind spot, anyway.

He inhales.

 _The knives rush in._

Exhales.

 _The knives rush out._

How long has it been?

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

"Oh, there you are, Nagisa," Karma meets Nagisa halfway down the mountain. She notes with some relief that he's carrying her bag.

Now seeing Karma, her brain's defensive walls suddenly collapse. An image of Gakushuu's heartrending expression is seared into the back of her eyelids. Each time she blinks, it's there.

Nagisa hadn't known.

She only thought that Gakushuu would been asking her to keep Karma in line. Or maybe to ask her about her secrets.

 _But that he would like her…?_

Nagisa flings her arms around Karma, burying her face in his uniform front. He starts, brings his arms around her, gently cradling her against him.

"You okay?"

 _I don't need someone calm. I just want Karma._

Asano's expression jumps to her mind again.

"I love you," She says quietly.

Karma squeezes her slightly. "I know. I love you too."

In that second after he had asked her out, Nagisa had made her choice.

She would kill his feelings. If not, Gakushuu may stay hung on to her. She had read cases of those in books, in magazines, in manga, seen it in movies, in dramas, in anime.

 _Had it been the correct choice?_

"You ready?" Karma asks, stroking her hair.

"I just broke someone's heart," Nagisa whispers.

 _That expression…_

 _That had been the face of someone whose heart had been ripped out of his chest and stomped on._

 _Torn to shreds._

 _Splintered and murdered._

"…Shuu-chan?" Karma asks.

Nagisa nods. Then, she realises.

"Karma, I broke his heart! I killed his feelings. Oh my goodness," She pulls back a bit and looks up at Karma. "I should have been kinder. I should have let him down gently instead of full on-"

"You can't change that anymore," Karma reminds her. "Do you regret rejecting him?"

"It's not the rejection," Nagisa says, agitated. "It's the way I rejected him. I turned him down on all fronts. Not much kindness. I don't, I just…"

"Nagisa," Karma looks her in the eye. "You can't change it. If you apologise to him, it will give him false hope. You're going to have to keep your distance."

"But…" Nagisa shuffles. "I'm terrible."

"No, you're not," Karma kisses Nagisa's forehead. "You're just a teenaged junior high student who's trying the best she can."

For some reason, a tear leaks out of the corner of her eye.

Karma presses her face into his shirtfront.

"I don't…I don't know why I'm crying," Nagisa says, the sound muffled.

"Because you're kind," Karma rubs her back soothingly.

"I love you, Karma. I love you so much," She cries for a bit longer, occasionally whispering confessions to Karma.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

"You probably liked her more than you thought," A familiar voice interrupts Gakushuu's knife filled breathing.

"What?" He looks up. The girl is there, her green hair swaying.

"I'm sorry," The girl crouches beside him, and she sets a hand on his shoulder. "I mistook your feelings for something less."

"Shut up," He glares something fiece at her.

"Want to talk about it?" The girl cocks a brow.

"No," He grumbles. This girl never fails to get under his skin. "Go to hell."

"Sadly, there's no express path for the undead," the girl replies snarkily. "Let's go."

"What?" He stares at her in surprised. "Go where?"

"Out and about," The girl replies.

"With who?"

"Me," Impishly, she points at herself.

"Wha-" Gakushuu splutters the beginnings of words, then gives up. "I-I didn't obey your week rule..."

"You're obviously in no condition to return to class and command your minions," the girl rolls her eyes, brushing off his words. "Gimme a sec," she starts texting on her phone. "There. Someone will bring your bag over in a bit."

 _Someone_ …"Tsugumi," he mutters.

"Yes, Omaeda-san," the girl claps for him, then glances at the school building. "I kidnapped her number from Nagisa. She's quite nice. Boring, a bit plain, but ultimately nice."

His breaths don't feel as knife filled.

"You're insensitive," He grumbles.

"That's because I don't know how to comfort people," She says simply. "What do you want me to say? Something like that, I don't know. I figure the best way for someone to feel better is to release stress and talk. Or make them smile. It's far better than saying things I don't know for sure, or if I accidently say the wrong thing and make a person feel worse."

"That's some way of thinking," Gakushuu acknowledges reluctantly.

"Ah, she's here," the girl pats his shoulder. "Stay here."

She runs off, and suddenly, Gakushuu feels cold and along. He shrivels up into himself a bit.

The knives rush in and out of his windpipe, now that he doesn't have a distraction.

 _I can't ever love you back._

"Back!" The girl calls. When Gakushuu neglects to answer, she nudges him with her foot. "Say welcome back."

"Where the hell are we going?" He stands. If he is to be plagued by knives, he may as well get the rejection off his chest.

"I'm glad you asked," The girl grins, then holds out his bag to him. "First, we're going to make you tired to expel some of that pent-up anger. Then, you are going to receive private counselling from the brilliant me."

"Brilliant my ass," Gakushuu manages.

In spite of himself, he smiles.

"Hey, you should call me by my name, since I'm helping you out," The girl jabs a finger at him. "No more of that 'you' stuff. I'm not your servant!"

"Only if you call me by mine," Gakushuu says in reply.

"Gakushuu," The girl gives him a ' _your turn'_ look.

"..." Gakushuu smiles again, wider.

"Kaede."

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

"There's one for each of you!" Korosensei announces the next day, during class. There are giant books which spines are around sixty centimetres long, making the book look more like an accordion than a book.

"Again with the crazy books…" Maehara grumbles as he shuffles to his seat in front of Nagisa.

"It's like an accordion," Okajima complains, flipping through the pages of the book.

At the teacher's podium, Nagisa sees Hayami receive her giant book. She doesn't react much, except for curling around the book reflexively. After a moment, Hayami totes it back to her desk.

"This probably isn't enough," Korosensei announces reluctantly. "The temptations of summer are simply too much to mention."

"Now then," Korosensei sets his tentacle on the table. "The summer vacation is coming up, but we all have a certain main event coming up."

"Yep, the hard won fruits of our labour," Nakamura holds up the pamphlet for Kunigigaoka school.

Karasuma and Irina flip through it.

"It's a privilege normally reserved for the class with the best results, which is to say, the A Class. However, this time, both the A and E classes dominated the top fifty. You more than qualify."

Kaede holds out a pamphlet, and she and Nagisa pour over it. Nagisa gasps in delight, and she thinks she sees hearts in Kaede's eyes.

"Summer vacation!" Korosensei crows. "The Kunugigaoka Junior High Special Summer course! Three days and two nights in an Okinawa resort!"

"Yay!" The class cheers.

*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧

Over in three A, Seo, Araki, Kouyama and Ren are gathered around Seo's seat.

"Heh," Seo snorts. "Let them take that lousy domestic trip!"

Ren rubs his head, sighing at Seo's proud words.

"I mean, every year, half of us don't even participate anyway. Those who can't afford stuff like that spend their summer break studying."

"And those like us who've got cash to burn end up traveling overseas!" Kouyama broadcasts loudly.

Araki twitches, rushing to cover Kouyama's mouth.

 _Too late._

"My family's taking a tour around Europe this year!" Seo brags.

The two finally notice the animosity gathering in their classmates around them.

"Oh man," Ren whispers.

"Some big five you are, choking when it matters most!" In a matter of seconds, they are cornered.

"What a joke!"

"The only winner among you losers is Asano-kun!"

"Oi, oi!" Seo yelled.

"Aren't you going to stop them?" Tsugumi asks Gakushuu.

Gakushuu spares a glance over his shoulder, then shakes his head.

"Can't be bothered."

"You seem lighter today," Tsugumi observes. "Is it because of yesterday's girl?"

"…I had never had a person listen to me so intently before," Gakushuu flips through Tsugumi's paper. "Error is here. To practice for literature, read all the morden classics in both Japanese and English. Compile notes. Elaborate more here, don't babble."

"Thanks."

Looking through the papers, Gakushuu is unpleasantly reminded of the wager. _The E Class would pay for it. And so would his father._

 _But, that could wait._

"For English, remember that they have a subject, verb, object structure. Or a subject predicate. Japanese, on the other hand, has a subject, object, verb structure. They have multiple words for everything. For example, kindness, gentleness and softness can all loosely mean our 'yasashii'," Gakushuu glances at Tsugumi and sees her writing notes. "Can you read English?"

"It's difficult, but manageable," Tsugumi scrawls. Her handwriting is messy.

"You should let yourself get extra time," Gakushuu informs her.

"My condition is mild. I don't feel that I have to make a big deal out of it, since it is an easy hurdle to hop," Tsugumi glances at the mountain.

"Then, I'll continue. English words never mean only one thing…"

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"Is that what you all want to do, then?" Korosensei asks.

"Yes," Standing in front of Korosensei, Isogai holds out a sheet of paper. "We'll cash in our tentacle destroying rights during the summer camp."

"Eight tentacles is a big handicap, but don't stop there!" Korosensei says cheerily. "Come at me with raw hunger on this island, the island surrounded by my weakness, water!"

"Let me be honest…" Korosensei scratches his head. "You have all become such wonderful students! Now, I've already given you report cards to pass to your parents," Korosensei pulls out a stack of papers and a red pen, beginning to scrawl all over them at mach speed. "Now, here are my report cards for you all!"

Instead of giving it out, like Nagisa had thought he would, Korosensei tosses the sheets into the air.

Nagisa gasps when a few of the papers overturn. Korosensei had drawn double circles on them, his face in the inner circle.

The class gasps with delight.

A classroom of double circles…they really had earned points from their target over the past few months.

"As you make full use of the skills you have learnt in term one," Korosensei speaks once everyone has collected one double circle. "This summer vacation will be a time for plenty of fun, plenty of studying, and, of course, lots of killing!" Korosensei then disappears in a burst of speed, leaving only his voice. "Class 3E of Kunugigaoka Junior High: The Assassination Classroom. Our first term, the basic fundamentals, is now over!"

The class surges out happily, chattering amongst themselves.

"Where shall we go?" Karma asks her.

"Let's go on a date," Nagisa suggests, smiling.

As Karma takes Nagisa's hand, she thinks that she probably really, really loves this Assassination Classroom.

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 **I deserve an icecream and two ice lollies for that.**

 **Too bad I'm watching my weight (albeit half-heartedly)**

 **I'm back! Kinda! Hopefully for a while!**

 **I hope this chapter was to your liking because, seriously, I have been slacking too much.**

 **I know, I'm a terrible person.**

 **And this chapter is a lot shorter than usual, if you don't count the extras.**

 **I'll try to allocate at least an hour every day to writing my fanfiction stuff, so here's hoping *crosses fingers***

 **Side note involving OC's: I'll probably stop mentioning many of the OC's unlesss in extras or those I have deemed necessary. So you guys can probably say 'bye' to Chi, Syaoran, Kuro and Yuui for a long while. Tsugumi, however, will be here to stay for a while and some to come. Think of her as Shuu-chan's conscience. Meiko, Chihiro and Naruko probably will randomly pop up (mostly in extras) since I love the idea of Nagisa having this like, close group of friends.**

 _ **Review repliessss (Here comes the guilt trip):**_

 _ **RinnTachibana** : The first review...I LOVE YOU! If you're reading this, feel free to request an extra or something for the next chapter ^^ Or something…? I'm generally extremely open minded, so I think Kayano is probably going to have a half-platonic crush on Nagisa for a but :3 Thanks for welcoming me back!_

 _ **Marorin5** : T-The second review! You...wow! *squints* THat's long. Thanks for putting in so much thought into your review, though! I'm happy. I have won the war *lifts hands and chants* Karmagisa! Karmagisa! I am so glad I brought you here! Enjoy your stay! We have an abundance of Karmagisa fics *holds our plate* Yes! YEs! YESSS I MADE YOU WRITE KARMAGISA! I HAVE REALLY WON! THAT'S A CHOCOLATE BAR EARNED FOR ME! BOO YEAH! I'm glad you remembered Tsugumi. I thought she and Hayami should meet soon *winks* It is, it's totally nagisa *giggles* I think they'd have a good relationship, since Ren's my favourite out of the four. I neither deny nor confirm that call MUAHAHAHAHA is it Kaede? *smirks* NMuahaha. After watching the entire anime I...Wait, that paragraphs a trap. I'm sorry. To maintain my neither confirming nor denying state, I can't say anything about your akari and Kaede paragraph. Sorry! Are they real? Or aren't they? You can decide for yourself up there! Haha. Yep, they talked. See the extras LOL! Ren isn't the only person Nagisa sees as a big brother. (Poor Shuu-chan…) My friend made a gif of Karma's blushing face and sent it to me *watches it for a moment* that face is golden. Seriously. I...I ship Kanzaki and Sugino pretty hard, but Sugino's so…he's not showing up *irritated* For some reason. I love writing this fic, especially since everyone is so supportive, but it's hard to write it at times. It's gotten easier, probably due to...the forces of nature? Yuuji… *smiles* I have a whole draft in my computer for that scene. It involves a dance-off, some crossdressing and the disposal of alcohol. Look forward to it *winks* Of course, Nagisa isn't the one crossdressing…Yuuji's a good kid, I think. Pity he wasn't starred more. I've started loosely planning for the Civil war, trying to hit on a good scenario, but it's really difficult. I wonder if I should make them fight...Thanks for having so much faith in me XD God of Death arc was really cool! *gets randomly excited* I haven't yet decided how much is going to change there...maybe a little bit of Humor. I think there was a scene in the manga where the girls were chatting and then Okajima was trying to listen in…maybe I'll try another school trip or something? There are some classes in my school that arrange outings were they just go out and have fun. I may get 3E to do that, but probably not so often. I loved Koro-Q Too. I mean, as an Assassination Classroom fan, I was brought to tears when it ended, so even that little extra was a nice thing. Even better when Yuusei Matsui filled it with his trademark humour and lots of gags! Bitch-sensei's introduction wasn't one I had been expecting, but it delighted me! ANd then when Terasaka became like, an ikemen, and they accused Karasuma of being Gay I just...I just couldn't it was so funny. I like reading your 'essay', since you're really nice and humorous. Thanks for giving your opinions and stuff XD Hope you liked this chapter_

 _ **Shiranai Atsune:** You reviewed on the day it came out! I may or may not be kaede *smirks* no comment. Hee hee ^^ Was Gakushuu's feelings sincere…? I may have to edit chapter seventeen...Yeah, 3-E wins (I can't make them lose. I just can't) and yep, I hope you liked the confessuon. Unfortunatley, that's the only parts of their love story outside the extras. Gakushuu and Nagisa's story should get some spot light in the extras or the backstory…:3 So you'll have to wait for quite a while MUAHHAHA_

 _ **EVA-Saiyajin:** Whoa! You reviewed on the day it came out wow I wow. *covers ears* I accept my sin for getting carried away with the OC's...I don't know what I was thinking. I'm sorry. I probably won't be including the cafe for a long while to come. (see above). I realise that it was too heavy, but it seemed a little appropiate. It did make the joke fall flat. I was thinking of maybe having Nagisa and Kaede visit Isogai's family in that particular chapter, so this is a little bit like...um...well, it's something. I too want to make Korosensei try to help out more. However, topics like money are hard to go around. Looks like I'm going to have to put my thinking cap on..._

 _ **Marshmallow:** Whoa, you reviewed on the day it came out! I salute you! Er...that was a long scream...I'm so sorry for the long wait last time, and again this time. It's technically summer in the northern hemisphere, isn't it? I finallly learnt about seasons from geography ~ I'm so psyched! Now we can add that the legendary pokemon came out for pokemon go. As a good *cough cough* not so good *cough cough* student, I'm been drowning in my books for a while now and finally surfaced to write this story...I should have written this over the june hols, shouldn't I…Kayano was being presumptuous, and I initially intended it to be that Gakushuu doesn't have feelings for Nagisa, then I realised._

 _Wait, it's so much more fun this way!_

 _So yea, that's the reason for the scene above. I do have social media, but I suck at using it as a somewhat introvert. Too bad doesn't let authors post details :P. Thanks for alwways supporting me, Marshmallow *bows* XD See you next chapter!_

 _ **Guest (1):** YOU'RE WELCOME! And I say it again, since this is also an update...YOU'RE WELCOME_

 _ **Guest (2):** Thanks! I fought through and made it...somehow..._

 _ **MonkeyQueen88 YT:** M-Mine is the first ass class story you've read…? OMG OMG SIS SIS SIS damn she's asleep. Anyway, whoa! I'm so happy! I'm glad you loved it! Thanks for the support, though! Ahh, i'm so happy I'm smiling at my computer screen, ahhhh_

 _ **Guest (3):** Oops, sorry! I had the vague feeling that I was going overboard with the OC's. I'll try and keep them in the extras only from now on...sorry!_

 _ **KuroNeko:** You people are amazing! This is crazy long! I salute you whoa. Thank you for your praise! I only update...one day after I've finished a chapter, since I have to add extras and review replies. LOL. You'll see more on their relationship later on, probably during the backstory :3 I'm making the extras extra long to apologise, as a sort._

 _ **AnimeQueen82** : Of course not! Karmagisa will win the war! *holds up assclass knife* Karma is probably...well, you've already read the chapter. He's clearly beating himself up over his illness, and so is Korosensei (as in beating up Karma). I can't believe he scored so high, though..._

 _ **NickyDawn** : Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! Karma is a badass *nods confidently* *chants* Karmagisa! Karmagisa! Karmagisa! *squeals* Haha, us fangirls would die from embarrassment if not for conveniently empty places *clears throat* I really like the minor characters in Asassination classroom (especially Isogai, Maehara, Hayami and Chiba, for obvious reasons) and I really like to develop on them. They're just so...you know. I'd like to deviate slightly, but not to much since it's a cannon retelling. Hope you had an empty canteen when this updated! ...I think so anyway…OH MY GOD THERE ISN'T ENOUGH KARMAGISA IN HERE! EXTRAS, HERE I COME!_

 _ **A Certain Triangle:** *whisper* Bill the triangle? THANK YOU FOR YOU RATING WHOA_

 _ **Cherryblossom321** : I love Nagisa and Karma together *throws hearts* OTP OTP OTP! Thank you for reading! Fun fact: My juniors learnt pick up lines and were trying them on their seniors. I got hit with 'are you trash? Cause I'd definitely pick you up.' I had no idea how to reply. My friend interceded with 'oh, don't forget to find a big enough garbage bag!'_

 _ **Guest (4):** Good job! XD Haha, I used to think that most people only liked short chapter lengths. I'm glad my crazy long chapters please people ^^ Thank you for always reading, lol! The praise for the characters reassures me, since Karma is a crazy hard character to write._

 _ **oORANGEjooz** : I'm...alive? Oh i fell down the stairs on the day you sent that message. Scary coincidence, right? Kidding! It was the day after that! (My foot slipped and my back got the experience of being a snowboard. I had like bruises for days. At least I got to skip PE. I really hate PE...Still. Never doing that again). I updated! *throws confetti* Thanks! I'm sorry about the way I randomly throw out names *frowns* I'm a total geek and literally stalk the wikia after I'm done with the anime and manga, so I usually kinda assume everyone knows the same stuff I do._

 _ **Guest (5):** Next chapter is out!_

 _ **YokaiAngel** : Thanks!_

 _ **Rex** : Thank you for your support XD Here's the next update...I say at the end of the update...well, there's still the extras!_

 _ **KagamiPiyo** : Karma and Nagisa are one of my otps *sniffles* I hope you liked this update!_

 _ **Yakosh** : Unfortunately, their combined power would scare the shit out of mortals like me *sniffs* But Hazama and Karma would be a deadly duo. Haha, I'm like Nagisa :3, though my grades are better in maths and sciences! I am so sorry for making you wait four months. *cringes*_

 _ **MylaUchiha** : I'm glad you think that! Check out the extra's below!_

 _ **Shidake:** I'm so glad *gasp* Thanks for your praise, and I can't believe you read so much in just one go! How many words have I reached at this point…well, it's definitely a ton! Oh my gosh! I'm so happy for your understanding, and I hoped this chapter lived up to your expectations!_

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 _Extras #1: Pudding and destruction_

 _Note: This is set one the day when results are back, the day before the end-of-year ceremony_

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"Are we really going to bring her for pudding?" Karma scowls, obviously referring to Kaede, who's walking behind the two.

"Yes, Kaede got fairly good grades," Nagisa says patiently. "So I'm going to treat her."

"No one said you had to come along," Kaede grins, grabbing Nagisa's arm. "Let's go, Nagisa~!"

"If it's sweets, I know better places than Nagisa does," Karma says simply, taking Nagisa's hand. "It's just a matter of losing your in the crowd.

Kaede pouts. "Wahhh! Nagisaaaa!"

"Karma," Nagisa nudges Karma slightly. "Chin up."

"Ugh," he scowls.

"I bet he's salty because he didn't get the top in class," Kaede stage whispers.

"W-What?!" Karma glares at Kaede. "Where did you-"

"Everyone knows about it!" Kaede smirks slightly. "You're the only one in class who's grades dropped. Huuu! He's so lame, right, Nagisa?"

"Kaede, no insulting Karma," Nagisa shoots Kaede a look. "Even if you're my friend, I've known Karma longer, and he's my boyfriend.

"U-Ugh…" Kaede releases Nagisa. "Let's go, let's go!"

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The three make it to a sweets shop of Karma's liking.

"Ooo, there's a promotion here!" Kaede points at a board set outside the shop. "Let's see...eat the massive strawberry cake within thirty minutes, and you get it free! Any more than thirty minutes, and it costs money…"

"Let's try it," Karma decides.

"No, I want pudding!" Kaede stomps her foot.

"Instead of strawberry cake, they can also change it to fifteen plates of pudding…" Nagisa reads the smaller words on the signboard.

"Okay, let's do it!" Kaede says excitedly. "I'll eat eight, then you and Karma can split the seven."

"Wait, wait," Karma narrows his eyes at Kaede. "Who's having eight?"

"I only want one plate," Nagisa interrupts before the two can begin to fight.

"Then Karma can have six puddings," Kaede nods.

"No way, you might," Karma smiles scarily passively at Kaede. "I'm having eight."

"Well, I'm not having six!"

"Neither am I!"

"Why don't you both split seven and seven?" Nagisa suggests.

The two turn to her. "No way!"

And before she knows it, there's a mini brawl happening over pudding.

Sighing, Nagisa enters the sweets shop first. She asks for a table for three, and the promotion item.

"All for you?" The waitress asks in surprise.

"Rather than that…" Nagisa pauses as the door opens. Karma and Kaede enter, looking around the shop.

Before anyone can approach them, Nagisa lifts her hand.

Karma spots her and instantly makes a beeline for her table. He slides into the seat opposite from her.

"Nagisa-chan, why don't you tell her she can't pack away nine puddings?" Karma asks angrily.

The waitress stares as Kaede storms over, dropping into the seat by Nagisa's side.

"I-I can!" Kaede flaps her arms.

Nagisa sighs. "I'll order two promotion sets, then," she told the waitress. "We're entitled to one per person, correct?"

"Um…yeah…" The waitress slowly writes her order down.

"But instead of the cake, can we replace it with pudding?"

"S-Sure…"

"Thank you," Nagisa sees Karma and Kaede glare at eat other.

"I ordered two sets, so you guys can each have fifteen puddings," Nagisa informs the two.

"But you wanted one," Both Karma and Kaede say in unison.

"I now want a scone," Nagisa flips through the menu, then points out the English high tea selection in the menu. "Miss," she asks the waitress. "Maybe I have a high tea set?"

"All for yourself?" The waitress asks.

"Yes…" Nagisa pauses. Her mother loves british high tea. "Actually, please pack me half to-go."

"Sure," The waitress writes it down. "Anything else?"

"No, thank you," Nagisa smiles at the waitress and she leaves. She turns her attention to Karma and Kaede. "Don't fight anymore."

"Let's have an eat off!" Kaede decides.

"Fine," Karma smirks. "I'm going to cream you, little girl."

"Oh, yeah? Just wait, you devil!"

Nagisa sighs.

This will not turn out well.

Sure enough, three hours later, Nagisa is holding Kaede's hair back as she vomits into a toilet bowl, cursing Karma every other breath.

Outside, it sounds like Karma is paying for the damage that he and Kaede had caused to the cafe.

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 _Extras #2: Gakushuu and Nagisa's first meeting_

 _Note: Since everyone has gotten interested in these two. And the back story would be written from Nagisa's perspective._

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"Hey, hey, have you heard about that red head?"

"The one who scored full marks for the entrance exams, right? I want to meet him!"

"No kidding! He's probably in the A Class."

"No, I heard that he flubbed the diagnostic test. Apparently he's in class D."

"Ehhhh? That's so lame."

"Yeah! I also heard that he beat up two seniors."

"Wahhhh, scary!"

Asano Gakushuu quickens his stomping as he overhears the snippets of conversations from around him.

He can't believe it, this…this Akabane Karma. Once more, Gakushuu looks at the papers in his hands. One set of them are from the entrance exams. All the papers there proudly sport red circles and one hundreds. The other set is from the diagnostic test, where the one hundreds have become seventy fives to eighties.

Both sets of papers belong to Akabane Karma.

"What is wrong with him?" He growls.

From someone who had beaten him, the amazing Asano Gakushuu, to end up in the D Class…the humiliation was something Gakushuu couldn't stand.

He finally reaches the D Class. Seeing a plump boy hanging out and chatting with his skinnier friend, Gakushuu interrupts their conversation.

"Excuse me, may I know who is Akabane-san?" He offers them a smile and a shrug. "Please point him out to me."

"A-Asano-sama!" The fat boy gasps.

"He's the," The skinny boy quivers. "He's that redhead over there."

"Oh?" Gakushuu glances into the classroom. Sure enough, there's only one redhead.

The redhead is flippantly eating from a bento, straddling a chair. He's speaking to someone sitting behind him, sharing that person's table, but Gakushuu can only focus on that. Idiotic. Redhead.

"Are you Akabane Karma-san," He barks when he reaches the desk.

The redhead looks up. "Who's asking?" He lets loose a lazy smile.

"Asano Gakushuu," Gakushuu replies. Akabane doesn't react at his name, to Gakushuu's surprise.

"Hmmm...do I know him, Nagisa-chan?" Akabane asks the person sitting opposite him.

"You should know of him, Karma-kun," the person replies. The person in question is a small girl, her arms swallowed by her cardigan, thin wrists poking out of the cuffs. One of her hands are intertwined with Akabane's, to Gakushuu's mild confusion (He would have pondered on it more, but he was busy with Akabane). Her hair is blue and long, half hanging down her back. She's really cute, Gakushuu notes, then returns his attention to Akabane. "He's the second in the level from the entrance exams."

"Still doesn't ring a bell," Akabane contemplates.

"Then…" the girl seems to think a moment. "Something memorable…" She lights up. "Ah, he's the one who went to you after the results were posted and said 'I accept my defeat-'"

Gakushuu's cheeks flame at the memory of his humiliation. "Are you his secretary?" He scowls.

"No, I'm akin to that at times," the girl says dryly. "I am, well…"

She pauses at that, then looks at Akabane.

He takes over. "Yes, Nagisa-chan is a very good secretary," He pats her head. "My favourite employee."

She laughs at that, and eats from her bento.

Gakushuu is irritated at the thought of them ignoring him.

"What the heck," He snaps. "Listen to this-"

"I'm busssssyyyy," Akabane waves him off.

Gakushuu slaps down Akabane's papers on the desk. "What are these?"

The girl and Akabane stare at it.

"Oh, looks like I have a stalker," Akabane wrinkles his nose. "Where did you even get my papers from? I can't believe I have a stalker…"

"You had one in last year," the girl mentions.

"I did?" Akabane considers. "Oh, right."

"There are full marks on these!" Gakushuu hits the entrance exams. "But look at these!" He slams the diagnostic test. "What the hell happened?"

The girl gasps. "Karma-kun, you didn't tell me you qualified for the A Class!"

"Meh," Akabane takes some food from the girl's bento as she looks through his papers.

"'Meh', what?" the girl glares at Akabane. "What were you thinking during the diagnostic test? It's like you…flubbed it…on...purpose…"

"I did?" Akabane cocks a brow.

"Karma-kun," the girl closes her eyes. "Why did you…?"

"You can still transfer to class A," Glad to have a person of the same opinion as him, Gakushuu jumps back into the conversation. "I can get the papers ready."

"It'll be so boring there," Akabane sticks out his tongue. "No way."

Gakushuu turns his attention to the girl. "Miss, I don't know your name, but please help me convince him to go to the A Class."

"Eh? Sure," She glances at Akabane, then back at Gakushuu. With a stunning smile, the girl brushes her hair behind her ear and bows slightly to him. "My name is Shiota Nagisa. Please just call me Nagisa."

Nagisa, huh? She was quite interesting.

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 _Extras #3: Isetan sale_

 _Note: Set at when Kaede goes shopping_

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There's an obvious tension in the air as the exams end. Inside the classes A to D, everyone is panicking. In a single instance, everyone is comparing answers. No one in Class A dares to ask Gakushuu, and for that, he's glad.

"Good job," He hears Ren say. A hand descends into his field of vision, holding a juice.

"What is this?" He asks.

"Juice," Ren replies simply. "A sort of reward."

Gakushuu doesn't reply, taking the drink. He twists the cap off, and lets the pale liquid enter his mouth.

 _It's bitter..._

"Asano-kun," Tsugumi calls. Gakushuu glances at her, and sees her by the door. "Someone came to see you."

"Hmm," Gakushuu stands, and moves to the door. Catching sight of hazel eyes, he lets a groan slip out.

"Asano-kun?" Tsugumi seems surprised. Ignoring her, he hisses to _that girl,_ " _What_ are you doing here?"

"What do you mean?" The girl bats her lashes. "We're friends...right?" She seems to enjoy the presence of a third party, playing up to the sweet girl role. "Let's go shopping! The end-of-spring sales should be starting soon!"

"Why would I-" he remembers to keep his perfect facade up in time. "I will be busy due to student council-"

"But...you promised me!" The girl whines.

Tsugumi walks into the classroom, thankfully.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Gakushuu hisses. "Do you know what it'll be like if I'm seen shopping with some E Student?

"Just come along with me," The girl crosses her arms. "I'll treat you to food, I swear!"

"I don't want food!" Gakushuu snaps. "I want you to go-"

"Asano-kun," Tsugumi calls.

Gakushuu turns to face her.

"Here, your bag," She nods. "You can go with your girlfriend now."

"She's not my-"

"Thanks!" The girl grabs his arm. "Let's go, Shuu-chan!" He nearly gags at that horrid nickname. How dare she? The object of his resentment, Akabane Karma frequently called him that.

He sees Tsugumi arch a brow and grits his teeth as the girl drags him out of the classroom.

"Shopping, shopping~!"

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"I can't believe this..." For the most part, all Gakushuu has to do is sit there and wait for the girl to finish. And guard her bags and bags of stuff. "Where on earth are you getting all the money?" Gakushuu bursts out when the girl brings her fifteenth bag over.

"Don't underestimate girls," the girl waves her bag at him, then sits down. "I'm done for a while, anyway. What do you want to eat?"

Gakushuu considers. "Tonkatsu." He decides.

"Fine," The girl pushes half the bags towards him. "Let's go!"

To his surprise, she actually brings him to a proper tonkatsu shop.

However...

"Two donburi sets," The girl orders.

"Wait, I want a tonkatsu set!" Gakushuu intersects.

"Wait, what?" The girl waves him off. "I don't have enough money for something like that."

"Let me order what I want, at the least!"

"No wayyyy," the girl smiles at the waiter, who notes down the orders awkwardly.

"Make that one tonkatsu and one donburi," Gakushuu corrects the girl's order. "I'll pay the extra few yen."

"Huh?" the girl sits back as the waiter walks away. "What the heck..."

"Why did you drag me out today?" Gakushuu sighs.

"Why not? It's not like you had anywhere else to go," The girl says, rudely. "You'd probably go home and sleep or something."

Gakushuu glances away. She's not wrong.

"Hah, I'm right," The girl laughs. "You should bow down to me! I freed you from your boredom."

"For your information, I was going to go home and _read,"_ Gakushuu snaps.

"Oh, goodness," The girl shakes her head. Her gaze softens. "Then we'll go to the library later."

"...Huh?" Gakushuu eyes her suspiciously. "Why are you being so nice today?"

"Well," The girl smiles, leaning back in her chair. "Consider it bribery."

Gakushuu stares at her.

"After meeting certain people, I don't trust people to not take my stuff hostage if I don't do something for them," The girl props her chin on her head. She sounds a bit...

Gakushuu remembers what she had said, _Tie a few knots, cut a few strings, and you get drama that's more interesting than a televi programme._

"So you got dragged into the drama that you caused on your own?" Gakushuu asks.

"You can say that," the girl nods, smirking. Gakushuu reflexively tilts his head to show his interest, then remembers he isn't supposed to have any. Before he can dissuade her, however, she continues. "A guy asked me out, so I said okay."

"is that all?" Gakushuu blinks when the girl pauses.

"I went out on dates and stuff with him, but sometimes he'll go elsewhere. One time, when we were shopping together, I ended up buying a lot of stuff," She closes her eyes. "He helped me carry some of it, but then we ran into a girl.

She was his girlfriend. The one before me. He hadn't broken up with her, just added me as a second girl. I didn't expect that. He was such a nice guy," Gakushuu twitches at the story. A boy who had been two-timing his girlfriend, huh? "The problem was, she immediately assumed that I was the one who asked him out. Since he's such a nice guy. Even though I kept telling her it was the other way around, she tried to beat me up. She got so angry she kidnapped half my stuff. 'Stop lying,' she said. 'He's too nice to have cheated on me voluntarily!' she said." The girl opens her eyes. "When I insisted that I was being truthful, she threw my stuff into the fountain and grabbed the boy and ran off."

"What a bitch," Gakushuu states, then rolls his eyes. "You're actually a wimp-"

He gets hit in the face by a sugar packet.

"The thing is, I can't blame her for anything," the girl rolls her eyes at Gakushuu. "I didn't like that guy anyway, he was just a way for me to pass time. I _was_ really pissed that I was the second girl though, and that the girl beat me up, so i collected all the wet things, scribbled and destroyed them in some way, then left them in a pile outside his house."

Gakushuu stares. "That's all? That's all you did?"

"What, you wanted me to destroy his life?" The girl arches a brow.

"There's no way that was all you did," Gakushuu says simply. She was a little too...

"...If I told you the other thing I did, you might work something out," She sticks out her tongue at him. "It was really bad though. He hadn't been able to find a girl to go out with him, so he texted me continuously until I blocked him. Nice guy, my ass."

"Your luck sucks, then," Gakushuu sighs. "You should have been able to tell that he had a girlfriend, right?"

"How was I supposed to have told? He always came when I called and never snuck off. He didn't even give a hint of playing two girls!" The girl snaps.

"How stupid were you?" Gakushuu retaliates. "There must have been _some_ sign. Maybe he didn't touch you, or he always asked you to meet up at places far away from his house, or _something_! I bet you were just too dense to work it out!"

"Who are you calling dense! Idiot! moron!"

"Plebeian! Brat!"

"Asshat! Shit hole!"

"Git! Imbecile!"

The girl struggles to find insults, then gives up. "There's no way we're going to library later!" She crosses her arms.

"W-What?" Gakushuu blinks, then scowls. "Your story didn't make sense!"

"Huh?" She snaps her head to him.

"What you said before that, and the story you told...the context didn't match!" Gakushuu turns up his nose at her. "How smart."

The girl's cheeks colour and he realises that she had just realised what he had just said. "S-Shut upppp!" She flails her arms.

As she does that, the thought flickers into his mind that this girl is just...sort of interesting.

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 _Extras #4: A (short) reverse constitute reality_

 _Note: In which Karma is the girl and Nagisa is not. (Karma's personality is a little different)_

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A figure stands on top of the staircase leading to the courtyard. Long, vibrant red hair glints in the light, a sudden breeze stirring to blow the long ponytail and the person's jacket around. The wind also prompts a familiar sound to Nagisa, the soft sound of metal clinking against metal. It comes from the person's ears. They wear a cuff at the top of each ear, with a golden stud in their left ear and a hoop and dangling cross in their right. Golden, glinting eyes overlook the class, shining like two laser beams, and a lollipop stick hands from pink lips. The innocent lollipop and cross earing seems a huge contrast from the person's appearance, which seems to be the devil incarnate.

"It's been a while, Nagisa," Akabane Karma winks at Nagisa, a hand set on her hip.

Nagisa neglects to answer, shrinking slightly in embarrassment. He has never liked to be the center of attention, and he sees now that all eyes are on him.

"Her breasts are so big," Kayano whispers to Nagisa, looking stunned.

"Whoa," Karma hops down the steps to the courtyard two at a time, her hoop and cross earing knocking against each other. Nagisa notices how Karma purposly pushes between him and Kayano. He almost laughs. "Ehhhh? So this is the infamous Korosensei?" Karma clasps her hands behind her back and leans forward as she stops in front of Korosensei. She offers Korosensei a huge beam, her lollipop hanging from her lips. "You really do look like an octopus!"

"And you are Akabane Karma-san, correct?" Korosensei asks, his eyes not really on Karma's face. "I've heard that your suspension was up today. However," a purple cross crosses his face. "That is no reason for being late to class!"

"Ehehe," She giggles. "I didn't mean to, sensei," Karma bounces back on her heels. "I had a run in with a pervert this morning, so that took a while. Forgive me," She holds out her hand. "Anyway, just call me 'Karma'. I'm like Nagisa in that way. Let's make this a fun year!" She punctuates her last word with a wide smile.

"Likewise, Karma-san," Korosensei takes Karma's hand in a tentacle firm grip.

And then there's the sound of popping. In a single second, Karma strikes with a skewer like knife. She slashes at Korosensei, only for him to jump ten metres away.

"Wow, you're so fast," Karma brushes her hair over her shoulder. Nagisa groans slightly at her slightly pouting tone, knowing that Karma is using her womanly wiles to her advantage. And these knives are pretty scary after all. I didn't think my plan would work so well, though!" She smiles brightly. "I cut one knife up realllll small, and stuck the pieces to my palm. But you know, sensei, you fell for a suuuper simple trick," She skips towards Korosensei, her eyes turning mocking. "Are you actually a sissy, Sensei?"

The tentacle regenerates.

"Wow," Karma claps sarcastically, moving her lollipop to the other side of her mouth. "I've heard you're called Korosensei, since you're unkillable, but…" She leans forward. "Are you actually a pushover, sensei?"

Korosensei's face turns vermillion, veins twitching.

"Nice expression," Karma laughs.

"Karma-chan, that's enough," Nagisa calls.

"'Kayyy," Karma spins around, then half-runs, half-skips to Nagisa's side. "Looks like I'm finally back in school, Nagisa. Shall we walk home together?"

Nagisa can feel the eyes of his classmates on him.

"Hey, Nagisa, introduce us," Maehara sidles up to Nagisa, his eyes on Karma.

"No way," Karma smirks. "I just introduced myself. Also, I'm not interested in players."

"Huh?" Maehara blinks, then laughs. "You're sharp."

"I know," Karma is taller than Nagisa by quite some, but she links arms with him. "Want to know my type?"

"Sure," Maehara half-shrugs, seeming amused by Karma.

"It's Nagisa~!" With that, Karma bends down and kisses Nagisa full on the mouth.

Nagisa lets her for a while, hearing his class explode around him, then bats Karma off. "Karma-chan, what did I say about doing things like that?" He sighs.

"Hey, why are you being so cold?" Karma pouts. "It's fine, right, Nagisa? Cause I'm your girlfriend!"

"Yes, but we're at school…"

"Nagisa, you're so cruel," Karma pouts, she faces him and bends down to rests her forehead against his. "Is it because I grew taller again? I can't help how tall I grow. I would like to be smaller than you, if I could."

"No, I don't mind your height," Nagisa sighs. "You're still the coolest and the cutest to me," he says patiently. "But you have to have some presence of mind. We're in somewhat public, so please be considerate to them."

"Hmm…" Karma relents. "Okay…" she pulls away from Nagisa. "You guys were heading to class, right?" She smiles, and Nagisa returns it. It's been a while since he's seen Karma in her school uniform. It fits her perfectly, although the skirt is a bit short. Probably since Karma's groan taller. She seems to have replaced the mandatory blazer or school-issue cardigan with a black jacket, neglected her tie, and wears a pair of thigh high socks with garters. Her long red ponytail ripples down her back like a crimson river. Because of Karma's crazy good looks, Nagisa knows that his male classmates are flipping out.

"Nagisa, what the hell?" Maehara grabs Nagisa's shoulders and shakes. "You never said you had such a babe for a girlfriend!"

"You never said you had a girlfriend!" Sugino exclaims.

"But she's such a hottie!" Okajima groans, before looking rejuvenated. "What are her three sizes? Tell me!"

"It's like a Yuri couple," Kayano comments. "Geez…"

Nagisa groans.

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"Bye, Kayano," Nagisa waves. "Bye, Sugino!" The two wave as they walk of.

Left by himself, Nagisa sighs. He turns away and starts towards the turnstiles when...

"Oh look, it's Nagisa," He recognises that voice. It's Tanaka Nobuda. "He's probably feeling right at home in the End Class."

"What a lamer! He'll never make it out of there unless he shapes up," Another voice snorts. Takada Chousuke. "Not that he even will. Remember his marks."

"That's so gross!" Tanaka snicks.

"It's the pits there," Takada agrees. "I would rather die than end up there!"

There's a sound of glass shattering. Nagisa turns, and sees that Karma-where had she come from?-has broken a glass bottle over Tanaka and Takada's heads.

"Eh? You would rather die?" She leans close to them, a wide smirk stretching across her face. "How about...now?" She points the sharp ends of the bottle at the two boys, who scream.

"A-Akabane!" They bolt.

"Like I would," Karma smiles, leaning back. "Who would want another suspension after I found such a wonderful plaything? Besides, running away from a girl," Karma shakes her head. "Really."

"That's dangerous," Nagisa informs her, taking the broken glass bottle from Karma. He glances at the shards on the ground. Bending down, Nagisa picks them up carefully. "Someone can get hurt."

"Got it, got it," Karma smiles. She, too, crouches to pick up the shards.

"Were you waiting for me?" Nagisa asks.

"Mmhmm," When they've collected all the glass shards, the two hunt for a dustbin. Nagisa has some scrap paper in his bag and they wrap up the broken glass in it before throwing it away. "I wanted to go home together," Karma holds out a hand to Nagisa. He takes it.

"You should have sat through the entire school day, then," Nagisa squeezes her hand.

"Nah," Karma shakes her head. "My sleeping schedule disagrees."

"I hope you sleeping schedule agrees soon, then," Nagisa taps his card on the turnstiles. Karma has to let go of his hand to do it too. "If not, I'm not walking to and from school with you unless you can be on time."

"Ehhhh?" Karma pouts. "My boyfriend's so cruel."

"Yes, yes," Nagisa halts in his steps. He sighs and turns to Karma, holding both her hands. "Bend down a bit."

"Hmm?" Karma blinks, then leans down.

Nagisa takes her chin in his hands and kisses her.

After a moment, he pulls back. "I'm sorry. Forgive me?"

Karma's smiling brightly. "Okay!"

As they resume walking, Karma suddenly asks Nagisa a strange question. "Hey, that small girl..."

"Okuda? Okano?" Nagisa blinks. "There's a lot of small girls in class, you know."

"The green haired one," Karma clarifies.

"Kayano?"

"Yeah," Karma slouches. "She's just a friend, right?"

"Of course," Nagisa stares in surprise. "Are you...jealous?"

"Cause she's so small and cute," Karma cast her eyes down. "And I'm so tall."

"Karma, I love you," Nagisa says seriously. "Kayano is just a friend. No matter what."

"Really?" Karma lifts her head.

"Yeah," Nagisa smiles a bit. As usual, Karma is scary to everyone, but weak when it comes to him. Nagisa kisses her forehead. "I love only you."

"I'll hold you to that," Karma laughs, squeezing his hand.

"Please do," Nagisa's smile becomes a beam.


	20. Chapter 19

Tomohito should probably make a few guy friends in class. Most of his friends are, after all, female. Nagisa, Kayano, dare he say...Kanzaki…

He's pretty close with Karma, he supposes.

But it seems kind of stupid to call Karma out to go bug hunting with him; more likely, Karma would end up hunting _him_.

Pursing his lips, Tomohito spins his phone on his table. He doesn't want to go bug hunting in the mountains alone.

The mountains around the campus are kinda scary, just a bit…

Dare he just go on his own?

He'll ask Karma.

After all, Karma had been the one to point out a few trees with plentiful bugs.

So he'll ask Karma.

Soon.

Or in an hour.

Yeah.

Or tomorrow.

Or maybe he'll ask Nagisa…

Or maybe the class's group chat.

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 _Chapter 19:_

 _Observing Sleazebags in their natural habitat_

 _or_

 _Pornography and assassination_

 _or_

 _Training with Assassins_

 _or_

 _Island Time!_

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In the end, Tomohito ends up in the mountains with Isogai and Maehara.

Isogai, who is somewhat of an ikemen, probably came along because of Maehara. However, Maehara, the somewhat flamboyant flirt…

What is he doing bug-hunting with Tomohito?

"You're actually surprisingly immature," Maehara notes, yawning. "Besides, we literally just got out of school! Why are we back on the mountain?"

"Not 'just', per say," Isogai corrects Maehara. "More like…a week since school ended-"

"That's 'just', Yuuma," Maehara complains.

Tomohito catches a beetle successfully and turns to Isogai, who is holding a large plastic container. "I'm surprised you both agreed to come."

"Once Maehara replied to the mass chat you sent out to the class, Okano became sure that he was up to no good," Isogai explains. He smiles ruefully and opens the container. "Okano eventually persuaded everyone that Maehara was going to need supervision-"

"She said I was going to blow up the mountain!" Maehara cries out, crossing his arms. "Where would I even get the dynamite?!"

 _He hasn't noticed?_ Tomohito glances over. Pretty much the whole class has guessed that Okano likes Maehara, but the two involved parties seem blissfully unaware; even Okano hasn't noticed her own feelings. Judging by Isogai's expression, he has guessed just as Tomohito has.

"You two had an entertaining argument," Isogai shakes his head with a short laugh. There's an emotion Tomohito can't recognise on Isogai's face as he angles it away from them, busying himself with catching bugs. "Okano-san and Hiroto get along well, don't they?"

It takes Tomohito a moment to realise that Isogai is asking him a question.

"Huh, uh," He glances over at Maehara, who looks slightly irritated and cautiously answers. "I dunno. They seem just normal?"

"Normal…" Maehara snorts. "That gorilla is not normal."

"Be nice," Isogai scolds Maehara, jostling him with his elbow. It's surprising to see Isogai behave less than an ikemen, so Tomohito can't help but stare.

"Wait, why'd you come?" Tomohito asks, suddenly recalling his earlier confusion over Maehara's presence.

"Huh?" Maehara glances at Tomohito, then grins. "Cause we're going to an island, right?"

"Ohhhh no," Isogai shakes his head. "I'm going over there," he points left of them.

"Yuuma's so mean," Maehara grumbles as Isogai goes off.

Used to Isogai showing a flawless personality, Tomohito finds himself staring after the boy in confusion. "That's-" he started to ask.

"Yuuma, yeah," Maehara replies, anticipating the question.

"But he's-"

"Different from normal?" Maehara's lips turn up into a wry smile. "He's always like that with me."

"Huh," Tomohito studies Maehara. He looks slightly smug, for some reason. "Anyway, you were saying?"

"We're going to an island resort, right?" Maehara smirks.

"Well, yeah?" Tomohito blinks, wondering what Maehara is getting at.

"Wouldn't you say we're missing a little something?"

"Like what?"

"MONEY!" Maehara exclaims excitedly. "You need cash to snag a bikinied babe!"

Tomohito begins to wish that Isogai hadn't left.

"These runts won't do," Maehara flicked his finger at the bugs on the tree dismissively, "but a giant stag beetle? Those babies'll net you tens of thousands of yen!" He moves forward, waving his arms emphatically. "Just auction them off online for big bucks, and I'll have at least enough to cover a fancy dinner and a hotel room!" Clearly excited, Maehara rushes off.

"There he goes," Tomohito jumps slightly when Isogai joins him. There are two new bugs in the cage. Isogai smiles apologetically at Tomohito. "Sorry about that, Hiroto can be a bit..."

"Yeah," Tomohito sighs. "Maehara seems to have forgotten the aim of our trip."

"Just a bit," Isogai says absently, watching after their classmate with some exasperated amusement. "His plans don't really sound like one of a fifteen year old's. More like a-"

"That won't work!" The sudden new, feminine voice startles Tomohito; it came from ahead of him, where Maehara had ran off to. "Giant stag beetles are old and busted."

"Kurahashi!" Maehara exclaims. The curly haired girl sits on a tree to his left, carrying a satchel.

"Hi! Here to earn some pocket money too?"

Tomohito moves over to where Maehara and Kurahashi are, wondering why she is here. Come to think of it, he doesn't know her that well. Kurahashi is an always cheerful girl who hangs out with Kataoka, but he doesn't really know much other than that she's always cheerful and has curly hair.

"What do you mean, 'stag beetles are old and busted'?" Tomohito asks as Kurahashi climbs down the tree. She's wearing a skirt, so Tomohito politely keeps his eyes on a branch above her head.

"Well," Kurahashi lands on the ground and dusts off her skirt. "I guess they were super valuable right around when we were born, maybe at five hundred thousand yen a piece **(About USD4563 now)**? But today's artificial breeding methods have saturated the market, so one is worth maybe five thousand yen **(about USD 46)**."

"You mean the beetle bubble burst?" Maehara stares at Kurahashi as though she has just announced that they canceled koushien. "I figured one beetle would make around enough to cover one babe..."

"No, no, babes are more expensive nowadays," Kurahashi refutes with a relaxed smile on her face, not looking off put by Maehara's slightly vulgar topic.

"You sure know a lot about this, Kurahashi. Are you into bugs?" Tomohito asks absently.

"Yep!" She beams at him. Although she doesn't have Yukiko's gentle beauty, there's something charming about her. "Along with every other living thing!"

"Hey, since we're all here, let's all go bug hunting!" Kurahashi continues cheerfully. "I'm sure we'll find loads if we try!"

Tomohito is amazed at her since most of the girls in their class would probably be at least a bit guarded with males, especially after Maehara's comment about one beetle being enough to cover one babe. However, Kurahashi seems completely at ease with their group despite hearing that. She's innocent and genuine and loves bugs; almost a ray of purity within their group, who are on the path on becoming sleazebags (courtesy of Maehara) and who are in need of a reliable assistant.

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"Sorry about Maehara," Tomohito hears Isogai say to Kurahashi as she leads them to her bug trap. "It was pretty insensitive of him to say those sorts of things in front of a girl."

"What things?"

"About babes and how they can be bought over with money," Isogai shakes his head. "Maehara's a good person, though, so don't be upset at him?"

"Ah, don't worry about stuff like that! I have lots of older brothers and they've said worse things."

"That's a relief."

"Maehara reminds me of one of my brothers. He was always chasing after girls."

"Was? Does that mean he stopped?"

"Yep! He's been dating his current girlfriend for three years. A record for him. He's even been talking about living together with her."

"Living together, huh? If he was a flirt like Maehara, I can't help but wonder what kind of girl captured his heart. Do you like her?"

"Yes, very much! She's a really nice girl, previously she was his best friend. She used to be very exasperated at his flirtatious ways. She was always cleaning after him. I remember she once said she had apologised to at least twenty boyfriends and more brothers."

"...I feel like she and I would get along."

"I heard that!" Maehara shouts.

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Tomohito stares in amazement at the bug trap that Kurahashi set up.

"Pretty good haul," She says happily, examining the bugs on the trap. It looks like a stocking with some strange yellowish mix inside.

"You made this?" Tomohito asks in surprise.

"It's a homemade trap of mine, I put it out last night," Kurahashi answers, unhooking the stocking from the tree.

"That's amazing," eyes wide, Isogai compliments Kurahashi.

"It's not so hard to make, just pour shochu on bananas and pineapples and place them in a stocking. Let it ferment for one to two days, then hang them up in your areas," without a single comment, Isogai takes the stocking from Kurahashi. He begins unpicking the beetles and places them inside the container he carries, leaving Kurahashi's hands free to draw a map out from her satchel. "I hung up about twenty more traps last night, so that's about a thousand yen **(~a hundred usd)** for each of us if we're lucky!"

Tomohito grins. "Wow! Not bad for a part time job!" He feels a tiny bit guilty about how they're getting money off Kurahashi's efforts, but she doesn't seem to mind so he casts that guilt out of his head.

"I hope I caught the one I've been looking for!" She says excitedly, folding up the map.

"What an inefficient trap," with the flair of a performer, a new voice joins their conversation. Looking up, Tomohito sees Okajima Taiga sitting on a branch of a tree ahead of them. He has a gravure magazine in his hand, and wears a smug, satisfied expression. "And you call yourself the E Class?"

"Okajima!" Tomohito exclaims in surprise.

"Bringing in a measly thousand yen," his eyes peruse the pages of the gravure magazine. " _My_ trap'l bring in a cool ten billion!"

"Ten billion?" Isogai voices in some surprise. "That means-"

"That's right," Okajima shuts the gravure and jumps down, landing on the ground with a soft thud, "since he knows that we're planning on assassinating him on the island trip, that octopus is bound to let his guard down in the meantime," Okajima leads them through the foliage of the forest, "and _that's_ what I'm after!"

He stops and crouches behind a bush. From their position, they receive a clear view of a clearing...

A clearing with a whole stash of pornography on the ground like a picnic mat, with Korosensei sitting on it.

Korosensei wears a rhinoceros beetle costume over his usual teaching garments. His yellow, bulbous face is commpletely pink as he eagerly peruses the pornography he holds.

"All right! Here we go!" Okajima declares gleefully, oblivious to the mildly disgusted and judging looks his classmates are giving the scene in front of their eyes. "He fell for my booby trap!"

Is Tomohito just imagining it or is Okajima making double entendres in every other sentence he says?

"Wow," Isogai says finally after a long moment of stunned silence.

"When do you see the speedy Korosensei too absorbed in reading to make the slightest movement?" Maehara adds, sounding amazed.

"That one must be right up his alley," Tomohito doesn't know what else to say - there are so many things wrong with the picture in front of his eyes.

"And what's up with that stag beetle cosplay," oops, Tomohito had thought that Korosensei had been cosplaying as a rhinoceros beetle, "is he trying to blend in? That's just sad."

"Every mountain has one," Okajima says smugly. "The smut stash."

"The...what?" Isogai says slowly, but Maehara shushes him.

"The kids who find their dreams there grow old enough to buy porn mags with their own money, and then leave behind dreams for someone else to find. It's a mountain of never ending dreams!"

 _Dreams, huh...? What a...strange collection of dreams._

"What's with the scenario," Tomohito voices. His eyes meet Isogai's and for a moment, he feels a bond of camridence between them - mutual exasperation at their classmates' antics.

"I'm glad you all are here! Help me, okay? We'll use our porn power to give him a _dream_ he'll never wake up from!"

... _We seem to have reached our ultimate level of sleazebagness._

"I did some major research into his top turn-ons, y'know. I can't buy the stuff on my own, but I found a few," Okagima says proudly.

"Okajima-kun," Isogai calls in exasperation. "Don't say those things in front of Kurahashi-san."

"It's okay," Kurahashi says, then turns her usual smile to Isogai. "I've even heard my brothers talk about this. Thanks for worrying about me, though, Isogai!"

"Though, I'm a little curious," Kurahashi continues, her brows knitted together. "Doesn't Korosensei just like big boobs? Wouldn't any old magazine do?"

"Isn't your resistance to sleazy talk a bit too high?" Tomohito's eye twitches. Heck, he's a guy yet he's getting slightly uncomfortable with Okajima's talk, but Kurahashi looks perfectly fine; heck, she's even asking questions.

"In real life, yeah." Okajima says seriously.

"You're even replying her properly?"

"But not in pornos. Everyone looks for their ideals in those pages," Okajima continues, ignoring Tomohito's interjection. "Everyone looks for their ideals in those pages. The slightest difference in art or scenario can cause a whole different reaction!" He proudly displays his phone, which holds pictures pertaining to his research. The first picture shows Korosensei holding a porn mag, his face pink and a wide grin on his face. He wears a snail cosplay. In the second picture, Korosensei wears a fly cosplay and has a completely blank expression on, similar to the time he explained why his face had swelled up due to the humidity. Again, he holds a porn mag that he's completely immersed in. The third picture shows Korosensei in a rhinoceros beetle cosplay, wearing the strangest expression Tomohito has seen as he reads his porn mag. At the bottom of each pictures are Okajima's findings: Day 1: He liked it, Day 2: he didn't like it, Day 3: he likes the art, but not the scenario.

The situation just got more bizarre.

"So for the last month, you've been placing down different magazines to find out Korosensei's type?" Kurahashi asks, her green eyes wide with wonder.

"That's sort of amazing," Isogai notes.

"What kind of grown-up would spend a whole month picking up abandoned porn mags?" With full on exasperation, Tomohito sighs. "That's just sad. Just buy them, you cheapskate."

"It's like your traps, Kurahashi! You spent a long time working out what your prey likes, right?"

"Yeah," She nods.

"I've got a dirty mind," suddenly serious, Okajima turns and meets the eyes of his classmates. "If you want to hate me for it, go ahead. It's only because I'm such a leech that I know," he picks up his gravure mag, drawing out an anti-sensei knife. "Pornography can save the world."

Looking straight ahead, with his hand on the knife hilt, Okajima actually looks cool. That in itself is disarming, considering his words. Hell, even his _words_ sound cool.

"I'll get him, all right! I put a net filled with anti-sensei bulleys beneath the magazines. He's so wrapped up in the magazine that he won't notice! Someone cut this rope and trigger the trap," Okajima says gleefully. "I'll jump in there d finish him off!"

 _It's amazing_ , Tomohito finds himself thinking, _how even something like Okajima's expertise on porn can become a weapon_. He thinks he'll mention it to Nagisa.

"So what exactly is Korosensei's type? You can tell Nagisa and she an put it down as one of Korosensei's weaknesses," Tomohito suggests.

Abruptly, Korosensei makes a noise. "Bwoop!" he says, and his eyes spring out of their sockets.

"W-What?" Marhara gapes.

"His eyes are bulging out," Isogai notes. "What does that mean, Okajima?"

"I-I don't have any data on that face!" Okajima whisper-shouts, very obviously panicking. "What kind of porn does _that_ signify?

"Nurufufufu," laughing his trademark laugh, Korosensei's tentacle snaps out, snatching something from a nearby tree. When his tentacle retracts, he holds a brown stag beetle between his finger pads. "A miyama stag beetle," Korosensei announces smugly, a wide smirk spreading across his (now back to normal) face, "and look at that eye colour!"

This triggers something in Kurahashi. She leaps to her feet and rushes out into the clearing. Tomohito yelps, trying to grab hold of her but he's too slow.

"Are they white, Korosensei?" She asks excitedly.

"Ah! Kurahashi-san," Korosensei hardly looks alarmed when a student goes running out to him. "Indeed they are."

"Whoa! Just what I've been looking for!" She beams.

"Yes, right here on this mountain!" Korosensei seems to share her joy.

"Oh man!" Okajima looks close to tears as he watches Kurahashi undo his month's worth of work. "We were so close!"

"I don't know what they're so happy about," Maehara comments when Kurahashi and Korosensei beginning hopping up and down in their joy, shouting "Miyama stag! Miyama stag! Yay!", "But seeing a giant stag beetle and a junior high school girl jumping up and down on a pile of porn mags is definitely a rare sight."

"Isn't it?" Isogai laughs a bit awkwardly.

As he says that, Korosensei suddenly seems to realise the predicament he's in. He looks down and Tomohito sees the horror dawn on his face.

"Nuya!" He exclaims, seeing the open magazines displaying countless of scantily dressed women. Korosensei covers his face. "How embarrassing!"

"It's humiliating; I have failed you as an educator," still seated on the pile of pornos, Korosensei stares at the ground as Tomohito, Isogai, Maehara, Kurahashi and Okajima surround him. "I knew there was a trap under the magazines," Okajima starts, looking shocked. He clearly hadn't expected to have been seen through. "But with each magazine more to my taste than the last, I just couldn't resist."

"He saw through your trap," Maehara shakes his head at Okajima.

"It's okay, we'll get him next time," Isogai says reassuringly, patting Okajima's back.

Tomohito leaves the comforting to Isogai and approaches Korosensei. The Miyama stag beetle sits on his head, not flying away.

"So what's the big deal, Kurahashi?" Tomohito asks, staring at the beetle. He doesn't get it. "That's a miyama stag beetle, right? In games, they sell for way less than a giant stag."

"Miyamas've been selling for more lately!" She answers with a smile. "They're still hard to breed. One this size could fetch twenty thousand."

"And look at its eyes," Korosensei adds. "They're usually black, but this one's is white. I taught you about albinism in class, right?"

"Yeah," Tomohito struggles to recall, "it's..."

"It's a phenomenon where animals or insects are born without a pigment, right? Without melanin," Isogai volunteers the information before Tomohito can make a fool out of himself.

"That is correct. While in humans this occurs in their whole body, it only occurs in the eyes of a stag beetle. A natural-born Miyama white-eye, as they're known, is extremely rare," Korosensei passes the beetle to Kurahashi. "It has great research value as well. You could sell this for hundreds of thousands of yen, easy/"

"H-Hundreds?" The boys all shout.

"I told Korosensei I was hoping I could see one someday and he said he'd use his zoom eyes," Korosensei demonstrates his previous action where his eyes seemed to extend out of his sockets, "to find one for me!" Beaming from ear to ear, Kurahashi turns to face Tomohito, Isogai, Maehara and Okajima. "Okay, you sleazebags: whoever wants this baby, raise your hand!"

Tomohito's hand shoots up like a firework and he bellows "Me!" at the top of his lungs. Unfortunately, so do the others.

"What should I do~? What should I do~?" Kurahashi laughs brightly and turns, running from the clearing.

"I was the one who found it!" Korosensei protests.

"The one reading pornos in the woods for a month shouldn't be protesting!" Maehara calls, then gives chase; he ignores a loud, ashamed "Nyuya!" coming from Korosensei. Tomohito is hot on his heels.

Kurahashi is fast and nimble; she enjoys herself with letting them catch up to her and waving the beetle at them before darting away, as quick as a shot.

Tomohito spends what feels like the rest of the day rushing after Kurahashi.

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 _In the meantime_...

"How did you find the movie?" Nagisa asks Karma as they exit the theatre.

"Everyone I liked died!" Karma scowls. "I mean, come _on_. Ah," he glances at Nagisa, "how did _you_ find it?"

"Everyone I liked died," Nagisa agrees, twisting a lock of her hair. "They also overused the whole 'giving up something to save someone else from dying' thing."

"That's a thing?"

"I think so, yes," she pauses, then glances at Karma. "Are you okay?"

"I guess," he rolls his eyes. "I mean, what can I do? The sequel will come out soon anyway."

"We can always ask Ritsu," Nagisa laughs a bit. "Speaking of which, how did you find it, Ritsu?" She speaks seemingly to Karma; Ritsu is on Karma's phone, inside his shirt pocket.

"It was very interesting!" Ritsu says happily, a smile on her electronic features. "Speaking of which, Karma-san, Nagisa-san, is it alright to not wait for the others?"

"Well," Nagisa pauses, then looks at Ritsu. "Ritsu, don't forget to keep out of Shu...out of Asano-kun's sight."

"I won't!"

"That movie was quite enjoyable," hearing another voice, Nagisa half turns and sees Hayami emerging from the movie theatre. Her hand is on her hip and, somehow, she looks cool with that simple pose as she pauses where Karma and Nagisa had stopped.

"Wasn't it?" Nagisa smiles at Hayami. "It would be nice if we were able to move like the people during the fight scenes."

"You mean, like the 'magic!', 'more magic!', 'magic with a punch!', 'magic with a kick!' scene?" Karma snickers. "I don't think we have magic."

"Well, we can't help our lack of magic. Though, if you could have magic, though, what magic would you chose?" Lifting a shoulder in a 'can't help it' way, Nagisa glances at the door linking the hallway to the movie theatre where people are emerging from singularly, in pairs and in clumps. What is taking the others so long?

"I think Ritsu has her own brand of magic," Hayami notes.

"You mean her talent with the internet?" Nagisa tilts her head, then laughs a bit. "Though it is true. Ritsu has a very useful magic."

"I'm flattered to hear that," Ritsu chirps. "I think that every person has their own kind of magic, though!"

"Ah," Hayami turns her head suddenly. "Here they come."

"You can hear them?" Nagisa's eyes widen in surprise. Hayami shrugs in response, leaving Nagisa confused. Can she or can't she hear then?

Chiba emerges first, sort of staggering. He makes his way over to their small gathering, looking as though he has seen death.

"You look like you just died," Karma voices Nagisa's thoughts.

"You alright?" With her cool pose on again, Hayami poses the question with a considerable amount of concern. "If you're going to pass out, don't do it near me."

"They were bickering the whole movie," Chiba mumbles, standing up straighter.

"They?" Nagisa blinks. Idly, she wonders if she can imitate Rinka's cool aura.

"There's no way that _thing_ is any good!"

"Yes, there's a way! It's _your_ favourite character that's weird, I mean, that person's, like, useless!"

"Useless! You just lack the brains to fathom how paramount they are!"

"Using big words won't make your argument worth more!"

"I must apologise for having more brains than you, then."

"You wanna fight? Go ask you pops, I bet I scored more than you did."

"If we weren't in public.."

"You should be _grateful_ we aren't in public because I would have-Hey, Nagisa, Hayami! How did you find the movie?" Kaede emerges from the movie theatre and for a moment, Nagisa is stunned. Upon first exiting, Kaede wore an extremely sour expression as she argued. However, upon noticing Nagisa, Karma, Hayami, and Chiba, her usual bright, sunny smile emerges on her face. Previously, Nagisa has only heard Kaede murmuring irately about people she doesn't like. Hearing her whole personality become one more...argumemtative is startling.

"Who was your favourite character? I really like the doctor! He's really good looking..." Kaede turns red, then coughs. "I mean, he was really cool!"

"No matter how many times I see the shift, it's always interesting," Gakushuu notes, leaving Nagisa slightly confused.

Oh! Did he mean Kaede's rapid shift from argumentative and sour to smiley and cheerful?

Nagisa steps back a bit so that Hayami and her cool pose shields her slightly. She still feels awkward seeing Gakushuu after the confession, despite it being a few weeks ago.

To her surprise, she sees Kaede subtly grind her heel into Gakushuu's foot.

In return, he kicks her heel. Both are being very subtle, but now that she has noticed it, there is no unseeing it. Nagisa watches with some fascination as they continue to secretly step on and kick one another even as they talk.

"What shift?" Ritsu asks.

There is a moment in which panic registers on Nagisa and Chiba's expressions and guilt on Ritsu's (Karma simply looks amused). Fortunately, Hayami is a quick thinker. When Gakushuu's head snaps towards them, she crosses her arms and looks at him expectantly as though she has been the one who spoke. Also, Kaede elbows him at that moment.

"The shift of this _thing's_ -"

A pinch on his arm. "How rude," Kaede pouts. "He's rude, right, Nagisa?"

Nagisa jumps, her eyes tearing away from Kaede and Gakushuu's battle. Purple eyes meet her own and she hurriedly looks down again. She doesn't know how to act around Gakushuu.

"I guess..." she says softly.

"Why are we waiting here?" Karma speaks up then, glancing around the now empty hallway. "It was more than two hour movie, so if anyone's going to piss their pants, try to make it to the toilet," a devilish grin spreads across his face, "or-"

"Karma," Nagisa scolds lightly, gently poking his back. She doesn't know what Karma had been about to say, but knowing her boyfriend, it probably hadn't been anything good.

"Gross!" Kaede sticks out her tongue, then rushes forward and grabs Hayami's arm. "Let's get away from him, he's _weird_."

"Ah." Hayami glances over her shoulder as Kaede hauls her off.

"I-I also need to go to the toilet," Nagisa says hurriedly, then dashes off after the other two girls. Like Hayami, she glances over her shoulder and winces when she sees Karma and Gakushuu looking at each other. Gakushuu's gaze is hard and bitter while Karma's is challenging and smug. Chiba looks as though someone he trusted had just splashed his face with acid and left him for the dead.

For some reason, all the analogies Nagisa can come up with today are related to death.

At the bathroom, the girls join the long queue and Kaede turns to Nagisa. "Don't run away, running away is bad," Kaede wags her finger in Nagisa's face.

Crossing her eyes to see Kaede's finger, Nagisa takes a step back to feel less intimidated. She isn't even sure _why_ she feels intimidated. Kaede is behaving as usual, cheerfully and charmingly, but Nagisa can't help but feel some animosity directed at her - animosity more frightening than the one Kaede directs at the Kunugigaoka students.

"Running...away?" Nagisa says slowly.

"You seemed a bit afraid of Asano-san," Hayami speaks up then.

"Ah, because," Nagisa cut her eyes away. "Personal...reasons..." She recalls the sickening feeling of guilt she had received when they had met up this morning and seen Gakushuu with Kaede as her 'last minute plus one'.

"Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."

Nagisa flinches slightly. She can practically see Kaede's animosity curling up like a snake around her.

"Kaede, stop," Hayami crosses her arms. Nagisa cannot understand how Hayami perpetually looks cool, no matter her pose, but she would very much like to learn from her. "If you want her to do something, say it clearly."

Nagisa is growing to admire Hayami more and more.

"Just talk to him," Kaede makes a face. "It won't kill you. I think he's over it enough, but that stupid, unsociable, annoying..." Kaede trails off when she sees Nagisa and Hayami staring at her. Clearing her throat, she resumes, "anyway, but that guy has so little friends. I don't know if he's over the 'personal reasons' or whatever, but I do know that he'd like to stay friends with you."

Nagisa ducks her head, letting out a quiet groan. "I don't know what to do. I mean, Kaede, he-" she lifts her head and sees Hayami covering her ears. "Um, Hayami-san?"

"I don't think it's in my place to hear this," Hayami explains when Kaede pulls on her arm.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Kaede laughs merrily, continuing to tug at Hayami's arm. "It makes it look like we're teasing you."

"You pulling at her arm emphasises that, Kaede," wearing a small smile, Nagisa watches her friends fondly. Recalling Kaede's statement, she turns it over her head. _He'd like to stay friends with you_...

Hmm.

"I'd like to be friends with Asano-san again," Nagisa says finally, startling Kaede, "however, I am worried that he would...have feelings for me again. I think...I mean, if you're sure he's moved on..."

"On second thought, now that you mention that," Kaede holds up her hand to stop Nagisa, "it'll be bad if he started liking you again, so let's not do anything."

"So wishy-washy," Hayami stares at Kaede with a mildly irked expression. When Kaede and Nagisa turn to stare at her, Hayami shakes her head, "Well, it's not like I really care anyway. Just do what you want."

What _does_ she want to do? Nagisa wonders. She has no idea. She would _like_ to remain friends with Gakushuu, but she would also very, _very_ much prefer that he wouldn't have feelings for her. Sighing, Nagisa closes her eyes. She doesn't know what she wants to do. Everything seems contradictory now that she's in her teens. Back when she had been nine or ten, all she had really thought about was going to school, reading books, spending some time with her friends, and growing up. Now that she is almost fifteen, everything is a mess. She wants to remain friends with Gakushuu. She doesn't want to hurt him, so she doesn't want to befriend him. She wants to do well in school. She doesn't really want to or like to study. She wants to get along with her mother. She doesn't want to have to speak with her mother. She wants to speak with her father. She resents her father for leaving. She wants-

Nagisa's eyes widen.

 _To kill Korosensei._

 _But she doesn't want to kill him._

 _She doesn't_

 _Want to_

 _She wants to._

 _But she doesn't want to. Doesn't. Doesn't._

 _Does._

 _Doesn't_

 _Does._

It's the first time she's aware of this contradiction. She wants to kill him, but she doesn't want to kill him.

What's up with that? Her vision seems to tunnel. That contradiction is far too wide. She wants to kill him. Everyone in her class wants to kill him; heck, even Korosensei wants them to kill him, right?

 _She doesn't want to_

Bitch-sensei, Lorvo-sensei, Karasuma-sensei...all of them wanted to kill Korosensei too. _You have enemies?_ Nagisa recalls a quote, _good. That means that you've stood up for something, sometime in your life_.

Korosensei is the one who blew up the moon almost six months ago. He is going to blow up the moon again, unless they kill him.

 _She wants to_

But he had once been human too; she cannot fathom how he managed to blow up the moon in the first place, or how he managed to become the way he is now. How he managed to become so strange and capable, how he managed to know so much, how he grew millions of tentacles, how his head became bulbous, his eyes two dots, his nostrils mostly invisible...

Thinking about it, thought, isn't Korosensei-

A hand makes gentle contact with her cheek and Nagisa jerks her head up. Her vision expands again. Kaede continues patting her face until Nagisa's blue eyes meet her hazel ones. "Are you okay?" Kaede asks.

"Yeah," Nagisa blinks. Kaede is next in line to go to the toilet; Hayami has already gone.

"The queue was so long," Kaede shakes her head. "Guys have it good. It's like, thirty seconds in - poof! - out of the toilet for them, and there's never a queue."

"I...guess."

"I'm sorry about bringing up the Gakushuu thing," Kaede adds, surprising Nagisa. "Hayami was right. Just do whatever you think is right. Gakushuu's quite straightlaced, so he might fall for you again, though. Just saying," a stall opens up, "yes, _finally_! We'll wait for you outside, Nagisa!"

"Yeah," Nagisa nods. Shortly after, another stall opens up. As she enters it, she can't help but wonder,

 _Thinking about it, isn't Korosensei..._

 _...what had I been thinking about again?_

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There is one week until the assassination island trip, and the class has assembled back in school to plan and train.

Nagisa bats away some sweat from her brow as stands on the track on the field. They're practicing shooting, the target at least twenty metres away. Next to her, Fuwa crouches down and takes aim.

"Well, well," Nagisa hears a familiar gloating voice behind her, "aren't you brats working up a sweat, summer holidays or not."

"You should train too, Bitch-sensei," Mimura chides the russian lady. Nagisa peers over her shoulder and sees Irina stretched out in a deck chair, wearing a floral pink dress that exposes her ample bust, dark shades and a sun hat. She carries a cocktail in her hand as she lounges under an umbrella. "Your knife skills are about the same level as ours," he continues.

"Grown-ups are unfair," Irina turns to look at Mimura, a languid smirk stretching across her face, "I'll hitch a ride on your strategy and take the best parts for myself."

Nagisa caught sight of a shadow behind Irina and winced. _Good luck, bitch-sensei._

"Oh?" A deep voice sounded behind Irina. "You think you're such a big shot, Irina?"

Irina whirled around and let out a shocked gasp somewhere between an alarmed exclamation and a sharp intake of breath.

"L-Lorvo-sensei!" She squeaks.

"He's here as a special instructor for the summer," Karasuma explains, approaching them, "he'll give us tips on our strategy from a pro's perspective."

"Spend one day resting and your arms and legs forget about killing," Lorvo stares down at Irina, his dark eyes hard. It lookes rather like a father reprimanding his frivolous daughter, Nagisa personally feels as she watches his eyes flash and he yells, "if you don't want to flunk out, hurry and go get changed!"

"Y-Yes sir!" Irina yelps frantically, leaping to her feet. She dashes off, leaving her beach chair and umbrella behind. Her sunglasses lie forgotten on the beach chair.

"Even bitch-sensei can't say no to him," Sugaya observes as Kurahashi skips over and picks up the sunglasses. Lovro converses with Karasuma as she does.

"Yeah, he's one scary guy," Maehara turns away; Kurahashi tries on the large frames and turns to the class with a cheerful smile.

"Does it look good?" She asks.

"Very nice," Okano laughs and hurries over. She playfully snatches the glasses from Kurahashi and slides them onto her own face. Then, she pretends to hold a cocktail in her hand and flings herself onto the beach chair.

"'Well, well,'" Okano begins in a poor imitation of Irina's voice, "'aren't you brats-'"

Nakamura and Fuwa burst into peals of laughter.

"You don't look a thing like Bitch-sensei!" Nakamura chortles.

"Let me show you how it's done!" Fuwa crows.

The two girls crowd Okano and steal the sunglasses from her. Nakamura slides it on and Fuwa pushes her onto the beach chair, arranging her legs and posture like Irina's.

"See?" Fuwa declares smugly.

"More like, I don't know what I'm looking at," Okano replied with some irritation.

"Hinata, it's your turn!" Kataoka calls Okano, then frowns at Fuwa and Nakamura. "Fuwa, Nakamura, don't go slacking off! And you, Nagisa!"

Nagisa jumped.

"Pay attention!"

"Sorry, Kataoka-san!" Nagisa squeaks.

"Where's Karma, by the way?" Maehara asks when he approaches Nagisa to pass her the gun he had been using.

Nagisa considers her answer carefully. After a moment, she opens her mouth.

"Probably skipping," Okajima grouses before she can reply.

"I guess," Maehara laughs.

With a slight start, Nagisa takes the gun from Maehara and nods. "Yes, he's skipping."

"You could have just said that."

"But Karma said I should say something ludicrous instead," Nagisa answers with a frown, "like that he went to England to eat crumpets with the queen or something...why are you smiling like that?"

"He probably meant something that would make him sound threatening," Isogai enters the conversation with an absent minded laugh, "not that eating with the queen doesn't sound threatening."

"It's not the right kind of threatening," Maehara agrees, snorting.

"Actually, I was supposed to say something specific," Nagisa furrows her brows, trying to remember the exact wording. Her japanese is really good (if she could say so herself), practically native, but some specific terms escape her understanding and therefore, often slip from her memory. After a moment, she brightens, remembering his words. "He said his father brought him along to meet with a cartel!"

Okajima, Isogai and Maehara stare at her.

"A..." Isogai begins, then falls silent, looking taken aback.

"...Cartel?" Maehara finishes, staring at Nagisa in bewilderment.

"By the way, what's a cartel?" Nagisa asks curiously, watching the stunned and slightly fearful reactions of the males.

"He's...he's joking right?" Maehara asks without answering Nagisa's question.

"Who knows," Nagisa shrugs and turns when Kataoka calls. She waves absently to the boys and rushes over to where the students are lining up to practice shooting.

"That was a joke, right?" She hears Maehara ask Isogai.

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(He had been joking)

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Lovro's professional eye swept over the students. He couldn't say he wasn't annoyed at losing contact with his three talented assassins, but he was determined to do a good job teaching the students assassination (whether they were junior high students or not). He ignored Irina dressed in sports wear as he formulated opinions on the students.

Just in case, he spoke to Karasuma, "am I correct in assuming that _he_ is away today?"

"Yes," Karasuma nods. Lorvo feels a faint respect for the man, who is always professional and calm - the opposite of his flighty student. "He had a trip to Everest planned. So he's there now, beating the heat."

"Good. A confidential strategy is essential for assassins," Lorvo looks over the strategy he had been given. On paper, it seems fairly simple. "Firstly, we destroy the eight promised tentacles. Then, the whole class jumps in to finish him off. So far so good..."

His eyes focus on a string of words. _What_?

"But what's this first step?" Lorvo turns the paper towards Karasuma with a frown. "Psychological warfare?"

"First we throw him off, blunting his moves," a perky brunette with a ponytail - Yada Touka - informs him cheerfully.

"Korosensei was scavenging for dirty mags earlier," a tawny haired male - Maehara Hiroto - explains, "so he paid us off with an ice pop each," Maehara's eyes take on a fearsome glint, "as if that would be enough to keep our mouths shut in this day and age!"

The gang surrounding him, Terasaka Ryouma, Yoshida Taisei, Muramatsu Takuya and Hazama Kirara have similar glints in their eyes.

"The entire class will be picking on him and destroy him!" The five chorus proudly.

A small girl with blue hair (Shiota Nagisa) approaches the crowd, a girl with green hair (Kayano Kaede) trailing after her. "Firstly," she explains, "we'll corner him with blackmail material and more." She holds a notebook in her hand. "Would you like to see?"

Lorvo keeps silent.

Kayano grabs Shiota's notebook and begins reading the writings out loud. "Scavenges the mountain side religiously for gravure magazines, deep fries tissues packets to eat when his paycheck is running out-"

"Kaede-chan, that's enough," Shiota says hurriedly, snatching the notebook back.

"-Cross dresses to enter women's only all you can eat dessert buffets-" Kayano continues, peering over Shiota's shoulder- "Competes with little kids to snatch the last box of candy on the shelf-"

Shiota shuts the notebook, frowning at Kayano.

"A brutal assassination method, indeed," Lorvo can't help but say, pitying the target for a moment. He catches himself. "But the most crucial thing is the final, killing blow." He looks from student to student. "Pinpoint timing and accurate arm would be crucial."

"Are you worried about this class's firepower?" Karasuma asks.

Lorvo is slightly surprised at the question. "No, quite the opposite," he answers, smiling as he looks at the two he had singled out a while ago, "those two are outstanding."

A bit apart from the rest of the class are the students practicing their long range.

The first is a boy with a long fringe, crouched with one knee up. He holds a large gun with a long scope and is carefully aiming at a cardboard cutout painted in their target's likeness. It's positioned a remarkable distance from him between a wooden frame.

"Chiba Ryuunosuke," Lorvo watches with approval as Chiba adjusts the trajectory of the gun, "he excels at spacial calculation. In long distance sniping, he's second to none."

His eye sweeps over the line of students aiming at a large collection of balloons painted with their target's face.

"Hayami Rinka has a nice balance of dexterous fingers and kinetic visual ability," Lorvo continues, watching the orange haired girl hold the gun out. Hayami grips the gun confidently between her two hands, her green eyes focussed on the gently bobbing balloons. "She's a soldier well equipped to take out a moving target."

Hayami fires several shots while Chiba squeezes the trigger once and a several pops alerts Lorvo to their successful hits. Three balloons pop while the cardboard cut out falls off.

"Neither is very assertive," Lorvo says in approval, his frivolous student on his mind as he speaks, "so their results do the talking. I would mistake them for my own students. The other students are of considerable ability as well," he adds. He and Karasuma turn their eyes to the students on the field. "Good job identifying and nurturing their talents in such a short time."

Several students fire at a target painted with their teacher's face. The target falls over, every single bullet hole within the teacher's circular head.

"I see plenty of potential here."

One student (Fuwa Yuzuki) sits at the long range area and flinches slightly as she fires the gun, the recoil clearly startling her.

Lorvo approaches her.

"See how your aim has stabalised? Some people shoot better cross legged than with one leg up."

"Y-Yes!" Fuwa nods. "Thanks."

He turns to the bespectacled Takebayashi Koutarou. "You seem to have trouble keeping up with the rest." Takebayashi jumps, looking slightly startled. "Don't force yourself. Find an assassination style that suits you."

"Lovro-san," A voice calls.

Lovro turns.

His eyes widen.

It's Shiota again, but this time, with her up close, Lovro notices something he hadn't before. _She has what it takes._

"What's the best assassin like?"

Lovro takes his time answering, mentally assessing this girl.

 _And even better..._

"You're interested in the world of assassins?"

"oh, uh, no, that's not-" The girl shakes her head, then takes a deep breath and starts again, "No, I was just a bit curious. I mean, Karma said - I mean..."

Lovro decided to put her out of her misery.

"Well, there's only one person on this planet who can be called the very best assassin," feeling Irina's eyes on him, Lovro continues to speak, "as is often the case in this line of work, no one knows his real name. Instead, they know him by this alliance - The God of Death. Elusively cold blooded, with a pile of bodies in his wake, he is known as death itself. If you keep having problems killing your target, someone like the God of Death will appear sooner or later."

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"Fufu," a deceptively angelic laugh comes from the lips of a plain gray haired male as he watches the conversation, "hearing praise is unexpectedly bolstering."

He sits in front of a wall of television screens, each screen showing him a frame of the E Class campus. Not one corner goes by unsurveilled.

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Nagisa squared her small shoulders as much as she could.

 _If someone like that exists, we musn't let this island chance pass us by!_

"Young lady, I will teach you a deadly move."

Nagisa starts, lifting her head in surprise. "Deadly?" She asks, dumbfounded.

Teach _her_?

"Yes," Lorvo looks her in the eye, completely serious, "a move guarantee to kill, from this professional assassin to you."

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The day of their island trips broadcasts sunny skies.

Nagisa finds herself excitedly exploring the deck of the luxury cruiser transporting them across the ocean. To be honest, she's never before

"This is amazing, Karma!" She declares excitedly, leaning over the railings. "Look!" She turns her head. "Fi-"

Her lips are captured by another pair and Nagisa feels her cheeks turn pink as Karma's tongue slides past her lips. It carefreely licks every sensitive corner of her mouth before he pulls away, an arm casually slung around her waist.

"Yeah, that's some _amazing_ fish," Karma says as he leans over the railings to peer at the school of silvery fish swimming past. He turns to look at her and smirks. "I mean, they made you turn so red and all."

Nagisa turns even redder.

"D-Don't do that in public," She says, attempting (and severely failing) to sound angry.

"No one's-" he presses a kiss to her forehead - "looking."

"But still," Nagisa lets out a soft, contented sigh when Karma gently strokes her hair, "it's common decency."

Karma snorts.

"When do I have common decency?"

"Fair enough."

"...no boats...anything but a boat, except...no couples...no boats...no couples..."

Nagisa starts and peers over her shoulder. She jumps slightly when she feels a tug on her hair from Karma, but forgets it when she sees Korosensei.

"My head's going to spill out...no couples...no boats..." their teacher has sort of _melted_ on the railing, with Kurahashi and Mimura holding a cheerful conversation with Korosensei and each other as they aim their knives at him.

 _Korosensei's weakness #8: He's prone to motion sickness_

Nagisa looks at them curiously, since everyone is in their casual clothes. It gives her a rather surprised feeling each time she looks at her classmates and sees them out of uniform, with the exception of her friends.

Kurahashi wears a pink tank top and a ruffled skirt along with a white sun hat with a matching pink top knot. Mimura wears a plaid button down with shorts. Looking at them, Nagisa's slightly startled when she thinks they match.

"Ah, look."

"Hmm?" Nagisa turns her head and gasps. An island looms over the distance, covered in lush green vegetation. Nagisa can just about make out sandy beaches and small chalets. There's also a giant hotel at the summit, probably granting an awesome view to all who have the money to stay there.

"Check it out!" Nagisa hears her classmates cheering. All flock to the railings, staring at the island in wonder.

"Six hours from Tokyo!" Sugino exclaims excitedly. His plains clothes, as expected, are quite simple: a baseball shirt under a short sleeved over shirt and bermudas.

"Here's where we'll kill Korosensei!" Maehara crows proudly, his elbow perched on the railing. He looks effortlessly cool in his simple blue hoodie, black shirt and dangling necklace.

Nagisa finds herself smiling too as she looks at the picturesque island.

They'll succeed this time.

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"Welcome to the Fukuma Resort hotel. Please accept these drinks with our compliments," A man greets the students when they gather at the outdoor cafe of the hotel. Some students are calmly relaxing and sipping from their juices (such as Yukiko, Hara, Kataoka and Isogai to name a few) while others are squirming in their seats as they take in the picture perfect island around them (like Kimura, Yada, Maehara, Nakamura and Fuwa). Nagisa herself falls into the former category while Karma falls into the latter and sits with Yukiko, Kataoka and, for some reason, Yada.

"Everything here is simply stunning," Yada says happily as she holds her drink.

"Yes, I wouldn't be surprised if faeries were to appear on this island," Nagisa smiled as she sipped the juice. It was tangy and slightly sour under her tongue...some kind of citrus fruit mix? When she swallowed, though, there was a sweet and bitter taste. She didn't care for it too much and pushed it away after a sip.

"I get that feeling too," Yukiko agreed. She seemed to like the strange taste of the drink, happily sucking on her straw. "Look at Kaede. She and Manami are playing on the beach already."

"Can you believe we can go directly to the beach from the hotel? I thought you could only do that in places like Bali or Phuket!" Head snapping from side to side, Yada looks like an excited puppy; Nagisa can practically see her ears perked up and her tail wagging from side to side.

"Well, Okinawa is known in Japan as a holidaying spot," Kataoka laughs. Abruptly, she touches Yada's arm, "stay still, Yada."

Yada freezes.

Kataoka reaches out and dabs her lips with a napkin.

"Oh, gosh! Was I drooling?" Embarrassed, Yada's hands flew up and covered her mouth.

"Looks like they have plenty of leisure activities available too," Nagisa hears Korosensei say cheerfully. He's overdressed as always, in a polo shirt screaming 'tourist', heart sunglasses, a sunhat and a strange chain necklace.

"We'll save the you know what for after dinner," Muramatsu replies. He and Hazama seem to enjoy the juice, drinking the bright coloured liquid readily.

"We're splitting into groups after this, aren't we?" Nagisa turns her attention back to the conversation when Yukiko speaks up, a slight frown on her face.

"Yes, different ones from our school trip," Kataoka cuts her eyes over to Korosensei, but doesn't say anything. Korosensei's hearing, after all, is insanely good. Her eyes spell out what the girls already know:

Don't forget our preparations.

Nagisa's hands tense under the table.

"I'm all up for that!" Korosensei announces in the meantime. "Play hard, kill hard!"

 _Kill hard._

Nagisa's fingers curl into her palm.

 _She wants to._

Her fingernails bite at her skin.

 _She doesn't want to._

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"Nurufufufufufufu!" Korosensei sniggers proudly as he dashes through the air on a glider. "After all, this is an assassination vacation!"

The students following grit their teeth as their show-off of a teacher proudly executes a sharp turn, a barrel roll before gearing in for a loop-de-loop that is stopped by a lucky bullet fired by the livid Okano.

 _Group 1: Kataoka, Okano, Maehara, Isogai, Yada, and Kimura_

Group one is paired off accordingly, with a pair to each glider.

"He pisses me _offff!_ " Okano shouts as she shoots rapidly at the dashing Korosensei, grabbing onto Kataoka so she can lean further out of the glider. "Die! Die! Die!"

"That's not fair!" Kimura hollers as Yada shoots rapidly at Korosensei.

"The power difference is too great!" Yada joins him in voicing complaints.

"Maximum instantaneous velocity measured at 150 kilometers per hour," Ritsu announces demurely from where she is clamped to the handlebars of Kimura and Yada's glider.

"Nurufufufufufufufufufufufu," Korosensei replies smugly, "with a fighter jet, it all comes down to the engine.

Maehara scowls at the zooming glider as he grabs onto Isogai's shoulder with one hand and the gun with his other. Isogai focusses on steering the glider (that he as an ikemen is able to instantly master [that damned ikemen]) while Maehara shoots.

Korosensei abruptly disappears from Maehara's site, only to appear to the right of their glider.

"Who's that cosplay supposed to be?!" Maehara shouts when Korosensei matches their speed. He wears a wig with short dark hair, square framed glasses, a stubble, a white shirt under a brown somewhat v-neck, blue pants and carries a book.

"Horikoshi Jirou."

"That's the guy who voiced him!" Maehara snaps at the response, violently firing at Korosensei. "Besides, he didn't fly them! He made them!"

"Nurufufufufufu!"

"It's all wrong!"

"Arghhhh!" Okano growls.

The gliders continue to zoom through the air.

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"What exactly is going on up there...?" Nagisa asks awkwardly as she zipps up Karma's wetsuit for him.

(A 'thank you' and a peck on the lips were given to her in reply.)

"I can kinda hear Maehara shouting (lol)," Nakamura laughs. She tugs her hair out of the wetsuit and glances at Nagisa with a smirk. "He's really funny."

"That I can agree with," Sugino joins the conversation with a lopsided smile.

"But he's cool too!" Swooning, Kaede clasps her chests and faces Nakamura. Her hazel eyes sparkle as she stares at the blonde.

 _Group 2: Kaede, Karma, Nagisa, Nakamura, and Sugino._

"Cool or funny-"

"or both!"

"-group 1 is doing a good job of distracting him," Sugino hops into the water.

Their group is hanging around the boardwalk leading to a certain floating chapel.

"They sure are," Karma hums, snapping on his goggles, "and with a little assassination in the mix. They're able to keep him from noticing what we're doing down here."

Their group is all going snorkeling...all except Kaede, who can't swim.

"I'll cheer you from the sidelines!" Is what Kaede had said initially, though she started mumbling soft, bitter comments to herself when she saw Nakamura's figure in the tight fitting wetsuit. In the end, she had turned away from Nakamura and wished them well.

At any rate, the idea is to make it look like they are having fun and looking around while they are actually hard at work. Naigsa jumps into the sea, recoiling at the biting low temperature. Her group is supposed to give the location a once over to see if the class could kill him according to plan.

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"W-What kind of pattern is that, Korosensei...?" Kanzaki asks after a moment of staring at Korosensei. All the girls has been thinking the question, but none have voiced it. His face is divided clearly into half - half yellow, half brown. It appears to be a very strange beard.

 _Group 4: Fuwa, Hara, Kanzaki, and Okuda._

"A sunburn," Korosensei answers matter-of-factly, "only the frontmost point of the glider was shading me."

 _O-Okay..._

"Now, group 4 is going dolphin-watching, yes?"

"Yes, in a boat though, is that okay?" Okuda ventures anxiously.

"Sea-rtainly!" Korosensei announces gleefully before changing into his fish suit at mach speed.

While the girls watch the dolphins from a distance, their teacher gleedly swims with the aquatic animals...all while dressing as a three metre long blue fish with a yellow face.

How he had managed to be accepted by the dolphins, no one will ever know.

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 _While one group distracts Korosensei, the rest work on their preparations._

"Where's Korosensei?" Chiba pauses while trekking through the thick foliage of the jungle of the island. He carried a thick black casing almost as tall as he was. As usual, his bangs hung in his face.

Hayami too stops. "Touring deep-sea caves with group 3.

 _Group 3: Hazama, Muramatsu, Terasaka, and Yoshida_

"There's no way he can see us here," her eyes meet the place where Chiba's will have been (if they had been visible).

He turns to face the front again and resumes his path forward.

"Then we're free to pick out our sniper spots."

Hayami blinks her green eyes, then shifts the thin case she carries. it's about the size of a laptop casing, but much thicker than a laptop.

"Let's make it quick," she answers, glancing at Sugaya and Takebayashi behind her. The pair resume their trek through the forest.

 _Group 5: Chiba, Hayami, Sugaya and Takebayashi._

"They already feel like total pros," Sugaya looks at Takebayashi as he spoke with some uncertainty.

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When people thought of the beach, the first thing they would think of would be bikinied women, right?

Gleefully, Irina minces through the lobby of the hotel. It's a shame she had not run into any guests on her way down to the beach, but she's glad to see hotel staff doing a double take as she moves past in her new swimsuit. A towel hangs from her arms like a shawl, 'accidentally' falling aside every so often to give people a glimpse of her buttocks.

Irina alters her walking style so that her hips swing in an exaggerated natural manner as she steps onto the beach. She pushes her sunglasses into her curly blonde locks, flips her beautiful hair, prepares to be fawned over...

"The beach is utterly deserted!" Irina cries out in dismay.

Not a single person can seen under the ample and wide beach umbrellas; not a _single person_ is relaxing in lounge chairs and _not a single person_ is in the sea.

"The last guest just left," Karasuma approaches Irina, surveying the empty beach in approval.

Irina gasps and glares at Karasuma. How _dare_ he ruin her swimsuit debut!

"The E class has rented out the hotel and its environs."

Irina has to search through her vocabulary to place the unfamiliar word before she replies.

"You know that's overkill!" She yells crossly, stomping her foot. "Why does this happen every time I step out in a swimsuit?!"

Ignoring her, Karasuma pulls a piece of paper from his shirt pocket and unfolds it, staring at it with his ever present frown deepening.

Inside his mind, his thought are somewhere along the line of...

 _This is one large-scale assassination plan - the biggest one yet. So far, it's gone off without a hitch._

Irina, however, easily ignores his focussed aura in the way only she can and encircles her arms around Karasuma. She pushes her ample breasts against Karasuma's back and clings to him securely. She had been looking forward to mesmerising both men and women and causing fights to break out.

"C'mon, Karasuma," she whines, poking her manicured finger into his cheek, "I wanna bewitch someone. C'monnnnn."

 _The only thing to do is..._ Karasuma turns and sweeps Irina off her feet in one smooth motion, carrying her princess style.

Safe to say, the only think in Irina's mind is: _Eh? Ehhhh? Don't tell me...I bewitched him? Ehhh? Ehhhhhhhh?_

Her cheeks colours immediately.

"H-Hey, wait-" A smile blossomed on her face - "Look at you, being assertive! We might be alone with each other," he began to walk, heading towards the sea, "but I wasn't expecting-"

And then he flings her into the ocean.

 _Охуе́ть? Excuse me, Сволочь? Do I look like trash to you, хуй?_

Irina hits the sand in an explosion of water and sand and sits up immediately, whirling around to glare at Karasuma as she spits sand from her mouth.

"What was _that_ for?" She screeches.

How _dare_ he! The _nerve_ of him! Getting her hopes up and acting to cocky just because he was a little good looking...what a horrible man!

"Irina, there's something I need to ask you."

"What?" She blinks. He wants something from her? Could it be-

"You, the professional assassin, said it yourself: it's not often that your work goes as expected."

Irina's eyes narrow.

He remembers, huh? So what he's asking is about the kids. Her previous light-hearted feelings dissipate.

with a sigh, she throws herself backwards into the water. Her hair feels so much lighter under the sea as she floats at the surface of the ocean.

"Yes, that's right. I saw the documents." She closes her eyes, a perfect record of the plan reviewing in her head. There are so many ways the plan can go wrong. So many ways, no way to make it airtight. "Chances are a complex plan like this will go off the rails once or twice. Do I look like I'm just having fun here?" She snaps her eyes open, her previously wide open and innocent (in appearance only) blue green eyes turning hard and cruel, "I'm gunning for my share of the spoils too. I'll get my opportunity when the brats' plan goes awry-and I _won't_ let it get away."

Karasuma studies Irina's expression, then lifts his head.

Go off the rails once or twice...

 _I just hope the assassination goes smoothly_.

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"Phew, what fun that was!" Korosensei gloats happily as he sits in a beach chair, staring at the sun sinking into the horizon. "No wonder I'm so tanned!"

Nagisa has been staring with her mouth opening and closing every so often as she wonders what to say, but a retort easily jumps to her lips at Korosensei's words.

"That's beyond tan!" The whole class intersects as one.

"Even your teeth are tanned," Kimura notes, staring at Korosensei in amazement.

"So much for picking up on your expressions," Okano sighs in exasperation, her arms akimbo.

Nagisa privately agrees. Since Korosensei's whole body and face is black, they can't use the usual colour scheme to pick up on his expressions. She suspects his face is pink now, under all the tan, but who knows for sure?

"Anyway, Korosensei!" Isogai calls, drawing the attention of the class. "After diner comes the assassination!" He glances briefly at his classmates from behind Korosensei's deck chair, then smiles slightly, seeming reassured by what he sees.

"Yes, yes." Waving his tentacles around rapidly, Korosensei cheerfully responds to Isogai's question. "First, the shipboard restaurant."

 _Is his face yellow_ _? It's no good, I can't tell_ , Nagisa squints at Korosensei.

"Let's get going~" He leaps to his feet - err, tentacles - and saunters off towards the restaurant.

"Hasn't that octopus had enough fun for one day?" Muramatsu stares after Korosensei in amazement.

"Meanwhile, we got to _pretend_ to have fun while we got everything ready," Terasaka mutters saltily.

"Well, if we kill him today, we can enjoy ourselves tomorrow," Yoshida gloats.

"I guess," with a slightly strained smile, Muramatsu squeezes his hand into a fist, "let's put in some effort and finish the job!"

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"Here we are, at the shipboard restaurant we've rented out," Isogai smiles pleasantly as he holds a tray, "let's slowly savour our meals while we enjoy the night's sea."

"I see," Korosensei's voice sounds slightly amused, "first you'll get me good and seasick to weaken my capabilities, eh?"

 _Is his face having a scarlet circle?_ Nagisa squints even harder at Korosensei, hoping to make _something_ out from his sunburnt face.

"Of course," Isogai answers, setting a glass of water in front of Korosensei, "that's Assassination 101."

"You're so right," Korosensei's eyes glint.

 _Is it green stripes? It could be black...? I give up._

"However, will it really work that well?" Korosensei leans an...elbow?...tentacle joint? A something against the table and looks Isogai dead in the eye. "Seasickness is no match for a teachers who's all pumped up anticipating an assassination-" He surges to his tentacles and looks down at the students, but...

"You're too dark!" Several of Nagisa's classmates shout.

"Am I really that dark?" Korosensei sinks back into his seat.

"Forget your expression, we can't even tell front from back," Nakamura answers candidly.

"It's too confusing. Do something about it, would you?" Kataoka grumbles, one arm poised on her hip.

Oh! Nagisa stares at Kataoka. Hayami had also done that pose...!

"Nurufufufu! Have you forgotten, students?" Korosensei laughs arrogantly, waving his tentacles, "I can molt-and in doing so, shed this dark skin!"

As he speaks, he proudly molts, becoming the usual yellow octopus. His dark, tanned skin lies on the ground near him.

More importantly, Korosensei just molted?

Is he not being careful? Nagisa stares at her teacher doubtfully. Had she seen it right? Surely not?

"There! Back to normal."

"That's your once a month molt," Fuwa calls out, sounding as surprised as Nagisa feels.

"That's right," Korosensei gloats, "Just another one of its uses.

Gloats?

Korosensei are you okay? Nagisa wonders as she stares at her teacher. He holds up the molted skin pridefully.

"I tend to save it for particularly sticky situations, but..." Korosensei trails off.

He pauses.

He shrieks.

What had that been about being all pumped up and expecting an assassination?

"What an idiot," Karma laughs as Korosensei buries his face in his hands, mumbling, "that's right: just once a month. I guess at least you can see my expressions now."

"How come we haven't been able to kill this screw up yet?" Nakamura asks, disbelief coating her words.

Eventually the meal resumes, with Korosensei being waited on by students.

 _We'd spent all summer doing special training in preparation for this day. Everything is in place._

 _This time,_ this _time,_ our _blades_ will _reach him._

 _But do I want them to?_

 _I do. Everyone wants to kill him_

 _I don't. Not at all._

 _I do._

 _I don't._

 _I-_

"Why're looking so stressed, Nagi?" Karma reaches out and gently pulls Nagisa's fingers away from where they're strangling her fork. He lays her palm out, then envelopes her hand with his. "Wanna talk?"

"...It's nothing," Nagisa smiles at Karma awkwardly.

"Don't worry too much or you'll go bald," he smirks at Nagisa teasingly. His fingers begin to curl around hers, almost like his hand is hugging hers.

Staring at Karma, Nagisa wonders what on earth she did in her past life to deserve him.

"Thank you," she feels her expression soften as she smiles sweetly at Karma. Pulling their interlocked hands towards her, she presses a kiss to the back of Karma's hand. "Thank you."

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Korosensei staggers down the boardwalk to the floating chapel, using a pole as a walking stick. Irina trails after him in a fancy red dress promoting the bust area.

"All right, Korosensei. Dinner's over," Maehara calls as he and Sugaya lead him to chapel.

"Here's where we're meeting," Sugaya announces, "a floating chapel, away from the hotel."

They enter.

Several students are inside already, Kaede, Manami, Nakamura and the Terasaka gang (who lurk at the door) to name a few.

Nagisa stands next to the giant television, between Mimura and Isogai.

"Take a seat, Korosensei," Okajima invites him to sit in the frontmost pew. The television is propped on the pulpit.

"There's nowhere for you to run here," Isogai adds when he notices Korosensei moving slowly.

"It'll be a fun assassination," Mimura smirks.

"We'll start with a movie," Okajima copies Mimura's smirks.

 _They kind of look like devils,_ Nagisa finds herself thinking.

"Your intelligence, your inventiveness, your earnest efforts," Korosensei returns the smirk, " _Those_ are what I most look forward too." He splays his tentacles out. "I expect a no-hold-barred assassination!"

And a no-hold-barred assassination he would get.

Nagisa catches sight Kaede's eyes from across the room and starts at the amount of bloodlust in there.

Kaede's hazel eyes then meet Nagisa's and all the bloodlust vanishes as though it had never been there. She flashes Nagisa a smile that's as sweet as pudding as the lights of the chapel dim.

Let the assassination begin.

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 **I'll keep the note short:**

 **SORRY**

 **I CANNOT EXPRESS HOW SORRY I AM**

 **THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR CONTINUING TO READ THIS IF YOU DID!**

 **Any updates will likely not occur until after November 19th as I have major examinations (literally major. It's like entrance exams) until then, so I will be studying my butt off.**

 **Thank you for reading this!**

 **Cookies for you if you figured out which movie it is *wink***

 **I'm only going to reply to one review today:**

 **To Marshmallow:** _thank you so much for your sweet review. I don't actually have a proper reason for not updating, which is why I wouldn't blame you for being angry with me. I'm very grateful towards your kind review; it really really helped a lot in motivating me. I'm sorry this is so short but I'm not actually very coherent or articulate in real life. I'm glad that this thing that I wrote got you hyped up for this fandom; I'm overjoyed, actually. I apologise that this took so long to come out. Thank you. Very much, thank you. I hope you read this *bows*_

 **I'm sorry and grateful to everyone *bows* If you are upset with me, please feel free to berate me in the reviews (I sound a bit like an m). As always, I will appreciate any review you all leave.**

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 _Extra 1: Karma and Nagisa (since there wasn't enough in here, I think)_

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"Did you see Sugino's message?" Nagisa asks, reclining on the couch. She can faintly hear her mother behind her, mumuring anxiously as she works.

"Yeah, I did," Karma replies over the phone. He sounds bemused, as always. "When I told him about bug covered trees, I didn't expect he'd be such an idiot and go catch some. If I go to the mountain and loiter there, do you think I can scare him?"

" _Karma_!" Nagisa scolds.

" _Nagisa!_ " Nagisa's mother hisses. Nagisa jumps and turns around. Her mother scowls at her.

"I'm sorry," Nagisa apologises hurriedly. With the things Karma has told her and the influence from some media, she's honestly come to dislike her mother a bit. It is not natural for a mother to hit her child, nor is it natural for a child to have to read her mother's moods and act like a devoted worshipper.

Hearing the sound of Karma clicking his tongue, Nagisa frowns slightly. "Don't, Karma. I was the one at fault."

"No you weren't. You were just being a teenager," she can practically see Karma's irked expression. "Nothing wrong with that."

"At any rate," Nagisa diverts the conversation from her mother - she and Karma always end up arguing when they talk about it - and poses a question to him instead. "Would you like to go? Bug hunting, I mean."

"No," Karma refuses immediately. "Unless you want to, then I don't mind making a date out of it."

"That sounds somewhat immoral," Nagisa murmurs.

"What do you mean?" Karma laughs boisterously. "Thinking of something suspicious, Nagisa-chaaan?"

She turns red.

"I-I am not!" Nagisa whisper-shouts into the phone. "I...I did not think of anything in particular."

"Yeah, right," Karma laughs even louder. "I bet you're blushing."

"I-I'm not!"

"You're definitely blushing, isn't that right, my little _shortcake_ ~"

"Oh _god_ ," Nagisa groans, but can't help laughing. "I thought you gave up on that nickname."

"Nope, it's back and better than before," hearing a soft exhale, Nagisa imagines Karma smiling fondly at her over the phone. She finds herself wondering if that's the expression he's wearing.

She glances over at her mother, then whispers. "Wait a moment, Karma."

"K."

She gets up and says goodnight to her mother, then goes up to her room. Seating herself on her bed, she continues to speak to Karma over the phone. "Our calls are always too long."

"It's fine, I'm a rich brat anyway," Karma replies cheerfully.

"Geez, you," shaking her head, Nagisa frowns slightly. "Money doesn't really grow on trees and it's your parents money, so don't waste it."

"I'm not wasting it," Karma snorts. "I'm using it to deepen my bond with my girlfriend. Besides, I'll end up with a bigger paycheck than my mother and father, so I can just pay them back when I grow older. The old man doesn't even bother to hide it, he says pocket money is investing in me so that he'll have it easy in the future."

"As always, the Akabanes are amazing..." Nagisa can't help but giggle into her palm.

"I don't get what you mean, my family's just normal."

"Yes, very normal," Nagisa's shoulders shake.

"Are you laughing?"

"Nooo..."

"You're definitely laughing."

"I'm not...I'm...quivering in awe of the Akabane's norma-pft-normalcy...or something..."

"Yeah, right."

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 _Extra 2: During the movie_

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"Oh, it's starting..."

"You don't say, _Kaede_."

"Stop using my name as a weapon...omg. Did he just _die_?"

"No. He's just sleeping after being stabbed."

"Shut your smart ass up. I thought he was smarter."

"Clearly he's smarter than you."

"What's 'clear' about that? He should have like, bided his time before attempting to murder his boss, he _literally_ just tried to kill him then pretends he can get on his good graces. Please. Also, I mean, seriously. He should have announced the Hulk _after_ he attacked. Everyone _knows_ you only says your secret weapon _after_ you use it. Duh."

"I believe you're quoting from a cartoon."

"The fact that you believe that means that you watched the alleged cartoon."

"I didn't! I'm fifteen. I don't watch cartoons."

"Bullshit."

"I didn't! A, A friend of mine simply told me about it."

"Was it fancy hair?"

"Was it...who?"

"Wait, did she just say she's pregnant?"

"What? They're not even married, are they?"

"I don't know, this is the first movie from this series that I've watched. Oh. She's not pregnant."

"How could you make a mistake like that?"

"What do you mean? He _said_ that."

"He said it was a _dream_ , imbecile!"

" _Imbecile_? Have you looked in a mirror, moron?"

"Have you ever seen yourself, idiot?"

Ryuunosuke covered his ears with his hands. Kayano and Asano had been bickering every since they entered the movie theatre. Turning his head, he looked to Rinka for help. Instead of offering him any, she gave him a ' _deal with it'_ look and faced the front. When he shuffled closer to her, she glanced at him again and offered him a minisicle smile. His heart fluttered.

Deal with it, she'd more or less said.

"OMG IT'S PETER PARKER YESSSSS!"

Okay, he'd deal with it.

"Shut up, you're freaking loud!"

" _You_ shut up! It's Peter _freaking_ Parker."

"You are _literally_ squealing."

"I love Spidey, did you see that?"

"No, I'm obviously blind and cannot notice the giant screen before me eyes."

"Shut your trap, he's speaking!"

"Stop asking me stuff if you-"

"Shhhh!"

" _Shhh-?"_

"Hush!"

"What-MMPH!"

Somehow he would deal with it.

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 _Extra #3: Wait, then what am I eating?_

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Nagisa had been out with Chihiro, Meiko and Naruko on that particular day.

Meiko had apparently found 'a suuuuper, suuuuuper fluffy waffle ice cream!'...or in other words, a cafe with very good waffles and ice cream and the girls had found time to gather together for lunch.

Yes, they were having waffles and ice cream for lunch. Nothing wrong with that.

Nagisa had ordered a hazelnut chocolate ice cream with her waffles, Meiko had ordered a strawberry ice cream with her waffles, Chihiro had ordered an earl grey ice cream with her waffles while Naruko had ordered a brownie chocolate ice cream with her waffles.

So the conversation picked up whilst they waited for their orders. Nagisa heard from Meiko (with many hand gestures) about the learning journey she had recently been on, while Chihiro outlined a part-timer at her new part-time job (he's insanely smooth and ikemen-like. I seriously don't know how he does it. Lots of regulars even know his name and face) and Naruko complained at length about her close male friend confessing to her (I am literally like _this._ What is there to like? Is he crazy? He's crazy, right? What do I dooooooooooooo). She herself told them about the end of terms - omitting a few details - and recounted a few stories of Irina's crazy classes.

The food they ordered took a while to arrive and Nagisa, who had been regularly sipping water, had to excuse herself to the bathroom in the middle of Chihiro's story about _this funny little_ _occurrence_ in her art class.

When she returned, Naruko was happily digging into her waffles as she listened to Meiko's recount of _this hilarious thing_ that she saw while walking from the train station. Chihiro's waffles arrived soon after as Nagisa was in the middle of telling the girls about the movie she saw with her classmates the other day. Naruko was groaning and covering her ears as Nagisa spilled spoilers while Meiko listened enraptured. Chihiro seemed slightly amused by the whole event.

"One brownie chocolate ice cream and one strawberry," the waiter announced as he swept over to the girls table, carrying two waffles.

Nagisa blinked.

Brownie chocolate ice cream? Only she and Meiko hadn't received their ice creams. Nagisa hadn't ordered strawberry, and she certainly hadn't ordered brownie.

"Eh? Brownie is mine!" Naruko exclaimed, looking stunned as the waiter set down the waffles. "If brownie is mine, then what am I eating?"

Nagisa stared at Naruko's plate. Half the ice cream and half the waffle had been eaten.

Quietly, she cut the brownie ice cream into half.

"Oh my god, it's Nacchan's," Chihiro took one moment to sum up the situation, then clutched her sides as she doubled over with laughter. "You were talking so much you took Nacchan's!"

"Huh? Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" Naruko exclaimed, looking panicked. "I'm so sorry, Nacchan!"

"How did you not notice they tasted different!" Her words came in between bursts of laughter as Chihiro laughed.

"It's okay." Half her ice cream was gone...her lovely ice cream...oh well, brownie was good too...but...her ice cream...

"I'm so sorry! I'm really sorry!" Naruko repeatedly apologised as Meiko and Chihiro clutched each other and simply laughed.

"Its okay," Nagisa smiled at Naruko. "Just, can I have my ice cream?"

"Y-Yeah! I'm so sorry!" Naruko transferred the ice cream over and Nagisa returned half the brownie ice cream.

She looked at her plate with some dismay before she slowly started to eat.

"I'm really so, so sorry!" Naruko exclaimed. Nagisa suspected the caramel haired girl would have done a dogeza if the table hadn't been in the way.

"Naruru, it's okay," Nagisa reassured her friend with some exasperation. "Just eat."

"I'm sorry..."

"And I said it's fine."

"Nacchan is upset," Meiko whispered not-too-softly to Chihiro after a moment.

"I know right?" Chihiro whispered again.

Nagisa death-glared them but Naruko had already heard.

Safe to say the better part of the next fifteen minutes was spent with Nagisa reassuring Naruko, Naruko apologising and actually going so far as to prostrate herself on the floor in front of Nagisa, Chihiro laughing so hard, she knocked her cup off the table and Meiko laughing even harder, so that she fell off her chair.


	21. Chapter 20

**Out of curiosity, does anyone want the backstory of Karma's parents in the next extra? Or Karma and Nagisa fluff? I'm open to suggestions!**

 **This chapter is shorter than the others because it's mostly action, but enjoy!**

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 _Chapter 20:_

 _Action time!_

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The lights do not switch off completely.

Korosensei glances up and the lights begin their strange pattern of alternating between being bright and dim - apparently a fault in the lighting system - then glances at their class.

"Now then," he grins, "I wonder what on earth you are going to do?"

In Nagisa's opinion, Korosensei thinks the natural faulty lights is part of their assassination plan. She's almost certain that he thinks that as he seems to pay attention to the lighting. Due to the differences in light, the areas furthest from the centre of the chapel (where Korosensei is) occasionally become shadowed. Although their class doesn't care about it, it's clear that Korosensei thinks the lighting is of importance and is paying attention to the shadowed areas which is somewhat...

Funny.

He should be watching something else, Nagisa thinks but says nothing.

At any rate, Isogai smiles and gestures to Mimura and Okajima, who flank the pulpit. Both boys look a little weary which Nagisa supposes is due to working through dinner.

(At least she assumes they were working through dinner, since she hadn't seen them there. Even Kaede had commented on how a few people seemed to be missing at dinner, though she followed it up with a careless, "well, if I can't tell who, they mustn't be very important," that had made Yukiko and Manami laugh awkwardly.)

"First, you'll get to enjoy a video Mimura put together," Isogai indicates where Nagisa is standing demurely between Nakamura and Manami and then where the Terasaka gang is standing, behind Korosensei, "then the eight top scorers will destroy your tentacles. That'll be the signal for us all to jump in and begin the assassination. Does that sound right, Korosensei?"

Korosensei still regularly diverts his attention to the shadowy areas even as he answers Isogai with a smirk his signature snigger, "Nurufufufufufu...more than all right!"

"Thanks for setting this up, Mimura," Sugaya comes around the pulpit and pats Mimura's shoulder.

Mimura turns his tired smile to Sugaya, "It was hard work! I was editing all through dinner!"

 _Yay, I'm right_ , Nagisa mentally smiles.

"Is that who was missing?" Despite her innocent tone, what Kaede says seems to drive an arrow into Mimura's chest.

"At least notice that," Mimura whines.

"Well, you don't make _that_ much of an impression," Kaede points out in her usual brutally honest way.

Nagisa notices Korosensei examining their surroundings again and decides to let him. The more he concludes, the better. His observations will all be overturned, so she should let him draw as many as he can so that the effect of the 'overturning' (she doesn't know what to call it) will be more drastic. After letting him have an undisturbed once-over, Nagisa approaches Korosensei. "Korosensei," calling out, she tries to be fairly conspicuous so that he diverts his attention from the surroundings to her, though she isn't sure how it works.

"Please stand and hold your tentacles out," Nagisa instructs, "I have to perform a body check."

Korosensei looks mildly confused as he stands, but the confusion makes way for understanding when Nagisa pats him down, checking for any anomalies. She initially had objected to the job, but Nakamura and Karma had embarrassed her into doing it, claiming 'Nagisa is the most observant!' and 'Nagisa has the most data!' and generally singing praises until Nagisa (red-faced and hiding behind her arms) had agreed.

At any rate, Korosensei obligingly turns so Nagisa can pat down his back and she keeps up a running commentary so his attention is on her.

"We may be surrounded by water, but if you smuggled in that swimsuit," Nagisa pauses momentarily recalling the mermaids and Kataoka's awkwardness, "you'd still be able to get away," she finishes.

"You're being so careful!" Korosensei declares. "But I wouldn't pull such a cheap trick."

 _One thing I learnt from Karma is that there is no 'cheap trick' no one will pull_ , Nagisa thinks with a sigh, recalling her time spent in the Akabane house. All the same, her hands slow slightly. Even from this close, Korosensei can easily dodge her attacks. But...if they all work together now, this may be their chance.

She thinks of her indecision the past few days and forces her hands to retain their lost tempo. She will think more about that feeling later. If they really do kill Korosensei, she will have the rest of her life to beat herself up over it. If they don't, she will have more time to toss the conundrum over in her head, debating if she should or shouldn't kill.

 _My opinion doesn't matter anyway,_ Nagisa muses as she steps back from Korosensei, _there's so much money, ten billion on the line so of course everyone wants to assassinate him. I do too. I do. If I ever decide that I don't, though..._ _I don't have that much sway in our assassination classroom. We will still continue to kill him._ A bitter smile curves over her lips as she states, "All clear." Maybe she will make an effort to make herself a _presence_ in her class the same way Isogai and Kataoka are after the island assassination.

And maybe she will wake up with vibrant red hair.

Nagisa wants to slap herself to pull herself together. Korosensei _will_ blow up the earth on March thirteenth, unless they kill him. She _will_ have the _rest of her life_ to feel guilt after they kill him. End of story.

Shoving her worries away, Nagisas grips her arm and forces herself to breathe.

"Are you ready?" Korosensei asks as he sits. His diarrhoea pill eyes (as Irina had put it, seemingly so long ago) narrow as he faces them, "no need to hold back. Come right at me!"

Nagisa's eyes travel over her classmates as she resumes her spot between her fellow top scorers.

All she can see is determination painting the lines of their faces.

"Here we go, Korosensei," Okajima announces and switches off the lights for good.

The television promptly lights up. The backdrop shows their small classroom building, blanketed cozily among the folliage of the mountain. A logo appears on the screen - two letters, 'AC', in orange.

'Assassination Classroom', the logo professes and then tucks itself into the lower left hand corner of the television.

"Somewhere in Tokyo: Kunugigaoka Junior High, Class 3-E," Mimura's voice announces. As it does, Nagisa's eyes flicker over to the doorway of the chapel where two forms have just left. She isn't quite sure who, but she thinks it's Yada and Okano, "as it is, their teacher is also their assassination target." One person comes in, then one leaves while three enter as Mimura continues, "tonight, the E Class recon team will close in on the ecology of this mystery man."

The eight students take their seats one at a time, Isogai last.

Their quote unquote 'mystery man' has probably sensed the students coming in and out of the chapel. Nagisa shifts her gaze back to the television. Korosensei is hopefully also distracting himself from the main picture by trying to keep on eye on the edges of the chapel as well as the net flow of students.

Nagisa is partially right. Korosensei had indeed sensed the entrance and exit of the students, but had not bothered to keep track of who's entering and who's exiting. Instead, he has focussed the bulk of his attention to where the scents of a certain pair: Hayami and Chiba. He had not smelled either Hayami or Chiba within the chapel which meant that the assassination involved them somewhere far away, where they hoped Korosensei would not be able to smell them. _Unfortunately_ , Korosensei thought with a smirk, _I can smell them from that direction. More importantly..._

"This video is really quite good," Korosensei hums contentedly as the camera pans across the classroom, "you edited _and_ narrated this, Mimura-kun? Nice camera blocking, good music...really sharp."

Mimura is one of the few students Korosensei can see, lit up by the television screen and standing in front of him.

"It pulls me right-" Korosensei freezes as the camera zooms in on the blackboard of the classroom. Mimura, Okajima and Maehara stand in front of a chalk drawing of none other than him.

"Joining us today are those who shared top-secret data with the intel team. We'll hear what they have to say..." Okajima and Maehara nod, "after this."

"His bribery..." the scene changes, showing Korosensei sitting on a small hill of gravure magazines in his teaching robes and a hood with a dragonfly on it, "failed."

"IT _FAILED_?!" Korosensei screeches.

Nagisa bites her lip to keep from laughing. She reaches out and lightly shakes Manami's arm. Manami answers falling against Nagisa and grabbing her arm. The blue haired girl feels her friend shaking as she laughed quietly. Feeling the slightest of head chops, Nagisa glances over at Nakamura and sees the blonde hovering her index finger over her lips. Both Manami and Nagisa nod and straighten back into silence and attempt to pull themselves together..

His current preference is mature office women," the narration resumes, oblivious to Korosensei's alarmed exclamations.

"Here are all the dirty magazines this octopus has gathered," Mimura's indifferent voice makes the situation seem that much more scandalous, somehow.

"No, Okajima-kun! I told you guys not to tell anyone!" Korsensei squeaks in alarm as his bulbous head snaps from side to side. Having heard the story from Sugino, Nagisa has to cover her mouth with her hand before she can gather her wits.

"A giant shadow looms over the line of the 'women's only' cake buffet. Who could it be?"

Nagisa's hand presses against her lips as they twitch.

"I'm Koroko," Korosensei announces on screen.

 _Koroko!_ Nagisa wishes Karma had scored top in maths simply so he would have been here and she could have buried her laughter in his shoulder. They're going to save the video, Nagisa hopes. This is the short of movie the class can watch together on a later date. And the sort of video they'll be quoting at each other at every class gathering.

He's decked out in a light pink dress, cinched at the waist with a brown belt and a hot pink cardigan over it. Korosensei wears a wig and Nagisa notes the peachy pallor of his skin.

Manami grips Nagisa's arm and Nagisa gathers some reassurance from how she's not the only one who wants to laugh.

"His disguise can't last long," Mimura says almost with pity as one of the waiters escorts Korosensei away. Korosensei flails on screen, protesting loudly. "It's a miracle they found out he wasn't a woman without discovering he wasn't even human." The calm voice over continues.

Hazama snickers ominously from where she has approached Korosensei. "Porn, cross-dressing and not a hint of shame?" she asks, a malicious smirk on her mien, "what a dirty person."

"When he's short before payday, he lines his images up to get free tissues." Nagisa watches as a line of Korosensei's - each cosplaying differently: an office worker, a baseball player, a housewife - queue up and each take a packet of free tissues from an increasingly surprised man.

"And what does he do with them?"

The scene changes to the classroom they use for home economics.

"Fries them up and eats them."

Korosensei looks overjoyed as he deep fries the tissue packets.

Nagisa doesn't know how to react let alone what to say. Korosensei even keeps up a running commentary as though he is a chef on his own show.

"Has he no dignity as an educator - nay, as a living being?"

"And that's not all - " Korosensei lets out an alarmed, 'nyu!', "we have a full hour of embarrassing footage of this instructor."

"Another _hour_ of this?!" Korosensei shrieks.

Nagisa _would_ feel sympathy, but well...

He sort of brought it on himself.

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"I'm dead. I'm already dead."

An hour of embarrassing footage slips past and Korosensei looks as though all the blood had left his body. "With all that out in the open, I can't go on living..."

The television screen shows the character for 'end', announcing the conclusion of the, ah, interesting collection of videos and photos. As a final word, Mimura's voice comes out.

"Now, did you happen to notice anything while you sat through our top-secret video, Korosensei?"

The last word is said with more emotion than the rest of the narration. It sounds slightly mocking and holds a slight challenge.

 _Water!_ Korosensei sits up at once as he realises the liquid lapping at his tentacles. _But I didn't sense anyone pouring it in..._

He freezes, recalling the sea outside. _It couldn't be..._

 _High tide!_

" _We_ haven't done anything yet," Terasaka crows. Korosensei turns and sees the Terasaka gang getting to their feet. Each member holds a gun with the anto-sensei bullets. "Someone musta shortened the support pilings on this here chapel."

 _Someone...?_ Korosensei's eyes fall on his students.

"You're seasick..." Nakamura announces with a slight smile on her face, "humiliated...and you've absorbed a _lot_ of seawater," she stands, flanked by Nagisa, Okuda and Isogai, "there's no way you'll be able to move quickly now."

"Now for the main event," the eight top scorers line up. Each of them hold a gun...a gun pointed right at one of his tentacles, "a promise is a promise. No dodgin' now!" Terasaka declares.

 _A good effort_ , Korosensei thinks. His eyes skim over the line. _Nakamura-san, looking slightly nervous but confident; Okuda-san, looking extremely nervous with her trembling hands, but resolute; Nagisa-san, looking calm as her eyes betray no emotion; Isogai-kun, looking similarly calm but with the slightest smile; Terasaka-kun, looking cocky despite the way his hands are shaking...he hides one in his pocket; Hazama-san, a smirk on her face that betrays nothing but self-assurance; Yoshida-kun, hiding well with his indifferent expression; Muramatsu-kun, seeming both anxious and poised with his shaky eyes and steady hands._

 _But I know where the snipers are,_ Korosensei thinks, _if I just keep an eye out in that direction..._

Outside, Kaede glances down at her phone from where she is tucked into a gently bobbing boat.

"Commence operation!" Ritsu calls. A text is sent to Isogai.

There's the slightest buzz from Isogai's pocket before the black haired boy aims.

"Begin!" he calls.

Eight guns go off and eight tentacles are taken away. Korosensei barely keeps himself upright.

"Five seconds have elapsed," at Ritsu's announcement, four people react.

Karma turns at the sound of that with a smirk, driving the motorboat away from the chapel. Three other boats go in three different directions from his.

"Did it pull apart?" Kaede gasps as she keeps her eyes forward, too afraid of losing control to look away from where her motorboat was heading.

Takebayashi pushes his glasses up, feeling secure in his knowledge that the chapel walls had pulls away.

"Yes!" Hara declares, punching her fist in the air as she directs her boat away.

"Thirty-five seconds elapsed," the words signal the ascent of a dozen or so students from where they had been lurking around the chapel. Using boards that spit high pressured water, they meet above Korosensei's head and wrap their arms around one another to form a hydraulic cage.

"Korosensei doesn't do well with sudden changes to his environment," Kimura recalls, looking down at Korosensei with his lips pressed against one another.

"From the chapel to a cage of water!" Sugino agrees.

"It'll confuse his weakened state and lower his reaction time even more!"

"Fifty-three seconds elapsed." Kaede glances at her watch.

Ritsu - _Ritsu! -_ pops up from the ground in her full form and announces, "commencing volley. Arming. Target area: a one metre radius around Korosensei."

The eight people in the...in the water cage with Korosensei form a circle around him with Ritsu in their ranks and aim their guns at him. They begin shooting.

"Korosensei is highly sensitive to attacks that make contact," reloading, Isogai keeps an eyes on the yellow octopus.

"But we're actually _not_ going to aim at him!" Nakamura yells. The bullets form a smaller, tighter cage around Korosensei as the nine students shoot at him. None aim to hit him, which obviously throws the teacher for a loop as he turns his head frantically. He is _clearly_ panicked.

"We'll block his escape path with a hail of bullets!" Terasaka exclaims.

"And that's not all~!" Nakamura sings, _sings!,_ and someone more focussed would see a glint, no two glints, from two different directions in the sea.

"Game over!" Ritsu announces happily, pointing a finger gun at Korosensei and miming shooting him.

One of the glints is the barrel of Chiba's gun. The other is the barrel of Hayami's. The class had left two dummies where Korosensei had smelled the two snipers and left the body odor soaked clothes of the pair on it. To avoid detection, the pair had remained underwater the whole time. Since his attention was so diverted, two blind spots had been formed.

 _Gotcha,_ both Chiba and Hayami grin slightly as they fire their shots.

Korosensei goes up in a massive explosion of light.

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The explosion throws the sea water out of whack and the students are knocked from their careful positions into the sea.

Nagisa surfaces, panting and treading water desperately.

"Nagisa!" A pair of voices call. Karma and Kaede, both in their respective motorboats, approach Nagisa.

"This was different from our other attempts," she breathes, the delighted horror welling up in her chest stealing her breath, "did we..."

"Don't let your guard down!" Karasuma yelled, running up the platform that once connected the chapel to the beach, "he can regenerate!"

Irina comes running from behind him, her skirts cinched up. Sweeping her blue-green gaze over the students, Nagisa can practically hear Irina counting their heads mentally, checking that all the students are there.

"Isogai-kun, Kataoka-san, you're in change of watching the water!" Karasuma yells.

"Look lively, now," Karma instructs her. Nagisa feels like telling him that he's using the phrase wrong (it does _not_ mean 'pay attention) but she knows that he knows that she knows that he knows and does it on purpose to rattle her and so settles for a slight sigh and a pout over her shoulder before she turns her attention to the sea.

"Over there!" Kaede yells. She's the first to spot the barest of bubbles bursting on the surface of the sea.

"O-Oi..." Sugino whispers.

Nagisa searches for her gun and finds that she had somehow held onto it even as several of her classmates let out exclamations of disbelief at their absent weapons. Lifting it, she directs the barrel to where the bubbles are.

More bubbles surface.

Nagisa presses her lips together.

There's a red glint of evil eyes...

Her finger squeezes the trigger-

And Korosensei surfaces as some kind of bubble, going, "NurufuFUAH!"

In Nagisa's shock, her gun goes off before she can still her finger and the pellet ricochets off the surface of the bubble. There are several exclamations at the sudden shot and appearance of the bubble, including one in their teacher's voice.

There's no other way to describe it.

Korosensei is, simply, a bubble.

Actually, he is a bubble in a bubble.

Their three metre tall teacher has been compressed into a peach ball approximately the size of Nagisa's face which floats in the middle of a transparent sphere that has wrapped around the peach ball like some weird membrane.

There's a moment of silence.

 _What the hell is that_.

"Nurufufufufu!" Korosensei turns his smirk to the students as he bobs in a slow circle. "My trump card of all trump cards: my absolute defense form!"

"How many trump cards do you have?!" Kaede exclaims, flinging her arms up in the air. "Are you a cat? Do you have nine trump cards? Twenty seven? Fifty four?!"

"Pudding, calm down. You sound like a rabid dog," Karma speaks up. His usual amusement is lacking, though.

"What 'rapid dog'! What the hell is an 'absolute defense form'?!" In her fury, Kaede messes up the words.

"The exterior is crystallized, high-density condensed energy," Korosensei brags, "the energy remaining after shrinking my body down hardens in a shell around it. in this form, I'm absolutely invincible! Water, anti-me BB's...it repels them and everything else."

Nagisa forgets to tread water and gets a mouthful of seawater. As she splutters, a pair of hands come under her armpits and hold her slightly aloft so she can catch her breath.

 _Absolutely invincible?!_

"No way..." Yada cries out. "So if you always stay in that form, we can never kill you!"

"If only that were the case," Korosensei announces in his 'teacher' voice. "This energy crystal will break down in about a day. When it does, my body will re-inflate, absorbing energy and returning to its usual form. On the other hand, for the one day or so until this crystal decays, I can't move an inch." Korosensei bobs slowly in a circle as he resumes his lecture. "This brings about certain risks, such as being thrown away, though what I fear the most while being in this form is getting stuffed in a high-speed rocket and left to float through the far outreaches of space." Wearing a smirk, Korosensei regards their class. "But I've done my research. Nowhere in the world is there a rocket capable of making that flight within twenty-four hours."

Nagisa says nothing, her head spinning. Her earlier troubles, her indecision, her somewhat confidence all faded away. All she feels is...

disappointed.

Disappointed at herself.

Korosensei had gotten them. He had had another trick up his sleeve after all that. He even considered its weak points!

"Up you go," barely hearing Karma's voice, Nagisa let herself go limp as she was hauled onto a firm, if bobbing, surface. She releases her gun and hears it clatter into the boat. Her wet fingers hooked in Karma's fancy maroon shirt, forming dark splotches. She doesn't dare put her head on his shoulder even though she wants to; Karma's shirt is _definitely_ branded and she shouldn't even be messing it up...

Karma lets her cling, watching Korosensei. After a moment, he exhales and pats Nagisa on the head.

"Let's go to land," he mutters. Her fingers are gently unhooked from Karma's shirt and she remains there, frozen on the boat. Nagisa hears the low roar of the motorboat that drowns out something her classmates are saying as Karma eases the boat to the platform. The engine stills and the boat rocks as Karma climbs off.

"Come, Nagisa," Karma says softly.

A hand descends into her vision and Nagisa takes it. Karma helps her onto the platform and pats her head one more time.

Nagisa watches mutely, her insides more numb that her legs after sitting cross-legged for three hours, as Karma turns to the sea where Terasaka is whaking the Korosensei bubble with a wrench.

"Is that so," Karma hums with a little more seriousness in his voice than usual. "If there are no weaknesses, then we're out of options. Toss it over."

Terasaka narrows his eyes but obliges.

Karma catches Korosensei easily with one hand (because it would kill him to be anything less than cool) and lifts his phone. He shows his screen to Korosensei.

Whatever is on it makes Korosensei screech a loud, "NYUYA!"

Nagisa blinks and lifts her head.

"What's that?" She approaches Karma slowly.

Karma sets Korosensei down and props up his phone in front of Korosensei with the help of a shell.

"Stop!" Korosensei wails. "I can't cover my eyes without any hands!"

Nagisa bends down and sees the picture on Karma's phone.

Korosensei is there in his stag beetle cosplay, leering at a porno while sitting on a mountain of pornos. How many times has she seen similar themed photos, Nagisa wonders, mentally judging her teacher. For _how_ many days did he go sitting on the same mountain of pornos while perusing each one. For that matter, how come he was broke but had so many cosplays? How weird was their teacher, really?

"Sorry, sorry!" Karma hums. Nagisa glances at him and _knows_ he doesn't mean a word of it. Everyone probably knows. "Then I'll just..." Karma hums as he fetches something from the poles holding the platform upright in the sea, "stick this sea slug on you!"

Nagisa winces in sympathy.

Karma holds nothing back, leaving the sea slug over Korosensei's eyes so that their teacher can get full view of the squirming underbelly of a sea slug.

Korosensei screams so loud that Nagisa flinches.

"Someone go find me a dirty old guy so I can jam this thing down his underpants!" Karma calls out to their classmates, lifting the ball.

"No! Help!" Korosensei wails loudly.

"I-If you think about it, we can do whatever we want with him," Kaede speaks up from behind Nagisa.

"Yes," Nagisa glances at Karma cheerfully going off to play more pranks on Korosensei, "and this kind of thing is Karma's speciality."

Is it just her hearing wrong, or is Karma saying something about...a pool of cockroaches...?

"We'll disperse for now, students," Karasuma took the Korosensei bubble from Karma, effectively saving their teacher from more torture, "the top brass and I will discuss how to deal with this one."

Karasuma places Korosensei in a clear plastic bag.

"Nurufufufufu! Going to throw me in a pool full of anti-sensei material?" Korosensei smirks. "It won't work. I can simply make a portion of my energy explode, creating a blast like before that would send things flying."

Karasuma clicks his tongue.

"But you should be proud," Korosensei adds, addressing the students. "Even the world's combined military couldn't get this far with me. It all comes down to the magnificence of your plan."

None of the students say a thing. Everyone's heads are lowered like they want to sink into the water and never come out. Nagisa helps a few of her classmates out of the water.

As always, Korosensei praised their assassination attempt.

But they had been closer than ever, making their disappointment that much more palpable.

Nagisa swallows thickly, the disappointment rearing its ugly head. She hates how small she feels sometimes. It's stupid. It's so stupid. One failure out of many they have. No different.

Yet Nagisa feels like running the length of the platform and diving into the water and _never come out_ except one, she can't dive, and two, she's too numb to move. She swallows again, feeling like she is trying to swallow away something stuck in her oesophagus.

Her classmates trudge past her, returning to the hotel.

Maybe they are feeling this too, Nagisa thinks in the solitude of her own mind.

The thrill from earlier that fell to make way for the crushing, agonising disappointment.

The fatigue and deadness that paralyses the limbs.

Their most elaborate assassination yet.

Their most soul-crushing, mind-numbing, heart wrenching feelings left over yet.

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

When Nagisa had first come from England, the environment had been so drastically different that she had lost herself.

She recalls it even to this day, the introductions, the questions, the crowding, the discomfort. Initially, her classmates had been enamoured with her. No, enamoured with the idea of her; a girl from Europe, a girl with long blue hair and blue eyes. They projected the image of a confident person, a cultured, mature girl from The West onto her. Just like one of those anime characters.

Upon discovering that she was quiet and naive, her classmate's delight had become irritation. They seemed to believe Nagisa was putting on an act of what those from the west perceived of those who were Japanese. This naturally infuriated them and the questions and crowding stopped. They began ignoring her.

She retreated into herself, happy with her books and company. Persuading herself that she wasn't lonely.

The ignoring became something else when Nagisa never reacted to it.

To her parents, she used to tell them elaborate stories. She got along with her class. She had a few good friends. She had lent her book to her friend, that's why it went missing. Her classmate had forgotten their textbook and borrowed hers during lunch, but someone had spilled a drink on it, that's why it was messed up. She had been talking with her friends when a group of boys who were scuffling had fallen against her table, knocking her books onto the ground and since boys were boys, they hadn't noticed and ended up fighting on her books, causing ripped out pages and worn covers.

That's all.

It had been exhausting. Pretending to her parents to enjoy school, pretending to her teachers that she got along with her class (she lost count of the number of times her teachers had pulled her aside, saying, "Miyamura-san, we noticed that you and your classmates..."), pretending to her classmates that their actions didn't affect her, pretending that she didn't notice all the mean notes in her cubby hole. She had forgotten how it was like to not pretend during that year.

The current situation reminded Nagisa of that. Of pretending that she was okay, of spinning tales to persuade herself that she was fine, of smiling on the outside and crying inside. She had nearly forgotten the feeling. The last time it had surged over her had been not too long ago, only last year, and yet she is completely unarmed to fight it.

The students return to the hotel quietly. Nagisa stares ahead. There is not a sound except the crunching of sand under the shoes of her classmates, the lapping waves of the sea.

She hates this feeling.

Underneath all her bitterness, the year she first moved to Japan, had been disappointment at herself. Frustration. So many of her classmates got along, didn't they? Why couldn't she? It was her own fault. She had to fix herself. Somehow, she had blamed herself for every misdeed inflicted upon her.

In a similar fashion, a million things now run through Nagisa's head. Maybe if she had thought the plan out more? Maybe if she had suggested something else? Maybe if she had had more information about Korosensei, maybe if she had carried out the plan _better_ somehow, maybe if there had been more data in the video, maybe if she had distracted him some more so that he became more confused and slower when the environment changed, maybe her reluctance to kill had-

A hand chops her head.

"Don't be so selfish now," Karma says mildly, "it's not like you were the _most important part_ of the plan or anything."

Nagisa blinks and a memory assaults her.

 _"You must be really self-centered."_

 _"W-What?"_

 _"I'm saying you're selfish. How much do you think the world revolves around you?"_

 _"I don't think the world revolves around me!"_

 _"Are you suuuuuuure? Clearly the_ git _from England thinks she's the cause of everything here. How much self worth do you think you have?"_

Nagisa lets out a bitter laugh as she recalls that scene. Karma had had a cocky smile on his face as he spoke, having found Nagisa in tears behind the school's gymnasium. It had not been the best - probably the worst, actually - of first impressions, but at the time, it had been enough. Karma had later admitted that he had been trying to start a fight, but apparently had been so charmed by Nagisa's response (a burst of laughter before she had continued to cry while laughing) that he had tried to comfort her (" _Oi! I mean, stop. You're that English girl right? It's not your fault, your class just has a lot of shitheads."_ ) before giving up ( _"Ugh, my mom's going to kill me for making a girl cry...better run...you!" "Y-Yes..." "Stop crying. Oh my...stop crying, seriously. Argh. Bye."_ ).

She had requested to change class later. Her teachers, who had always suspected about the bullying, let her. She had ended up in Karma's class in time for the art project and everything.

"You could be more tactful," Nagisa says mildly as she takes Karma's arm.

"What do you mean?"

"You could say something like, 'don't worry. It's not your fault', or-"

"Is that what I was attempting to say, though?" Karma quirks a brow, letting Nagisa cling to him.

"That's a good question," Nagisa feels her lips curl up into a smile despite her previous misgivings. "Is that what you were trying to say?"

"Who knows," without batting an eyelash, Karma shakes his arm out of Nagisa's grip. Before she can get embarrassed for bothering him, Karma has put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side. "No one knew that Korosensei had that form. It was caused by a lack of data, but it was impossible for us to get out hands on that data in the first place, so it's not your fault. Besides, it was a team effort so it would be overly self centered if one person shouldered the blame. It's like having only one person claiming all the rewards."

Nagisa doesn't say anything, but relaxes against Karma's side.

"Of course, that does not include the event that someone screws up irrevocably. But no one did."

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

Back on the round platform that had once been the chapel floor, a pair of students stand.

Neither say a word, then one turns to the large computer set up a little ways from them.

"Ritsu," Chiba calls.

"Yes?"

"Did you get all of that?"

"Yes. I recorded the entire assassination," smiling, Ritsu points at the camera on top of her computer, "using my best high-speed HD video camera."

Hayami presses her lips together.

"I knew," Chiba speaks up, "the moment I pulled the trigger...I knew that I had failed. That my shot wouldn't kill him."

Ritsu closes her eyes and says nothing for a while, then unloads some data on them. Unclear data, Ritsu reminds them. Unclear data that amounts to if Chiba had fired earlier or if Hayami's aim had been more accurate, they would have had a fifty percent chance of making it.

"I was so confident beforehand. I did it perfectly during the rehearsal and I didn't miss even once when shooting from a more unstable position," Chiba swallows loudly, "but when the moment came...my finger froze and my vision narrowed."

"Me too," Hayami says so softly, it's nearly a whisper.

"It was the pressure of not being able to afford to miss." Chiba turns to face her. "That crucial 'Now or Never' moment."

"Yeah..." Hayami bites her lip, then starts walking. "To think it would be this different from our practice sessions."

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

The E class arrives at the outdoor cafe. The same outdoor cafe they had sat in not even ten hours ago when they had first arrived on the island, excited and happily sipping drinks.

Nagisa leans back on her chair quietly. Karma has helped her feel better about the whole incident (though she does still feel disappointed), but her classmates had clearly been beating themselves up over the failed assassination the whole walk over.

"Whoa, I'm dead," Maehara announces as he slowly lifts his head. He exhales, looking as though he has overheated. It looks borderline erotic, Nagisa thinks, then beats herself up for that thought.

"Let's go back to our rooms and ressttt," Mimura groans, resting his head against the table, "I don't feel like doing anything else tonight."

Both Maehara and Mimura share a table, both looking flushed and drained, and Nagisa feels exhausted simply by looking at them.

"What, one lousy miss and you lose all your energy?" Terasaka snorts. He sits with Yoshida, who is sipping a drink. He doesn't look too drained. "We did what we were supposed to do, so tomorrow we can just enjoy ourselves."

"Yeah!" Okajima grins widely, holding his index finger and thumb over his eyes like they're binoculus. "I'm going to stare at babes in swimsuits from dawn to dusk tomorrow! No matter how tired I may be, I'll always have the energy for a hearty nosebleed!"

Okajima has drunk three of the juices already, presumably to calm his nosebleed...though looking at his flushed cheeks, Nagisa doesn't think it worked.

"Man, I'm just not feeling it." Maehara, who is usually Okajima's partner in perversion, sighs and lowers his head.

Nagisa laughs awkwardly at the sight and sweeps her eyes over her classmates.

 _Something's wrong..._

A large number of her peers are sagged over their table, as though they're too tired to even lift their heads. Nagisa sees Hara, Maehara, Mimura and Sugino among those. Since Sugino and Maehara are often good sports with a lot of energy, she can't help but feel a little anxious. Everyone seems _too_ exhausted.

Nagisa stands and bumps into someone. Before she can apologise, a hand grabs her shoulder and in a voice that sounds coated in exhaustion, Nakamura whispers, "can I lean on you for a second, Nagisa-chan?"

The words have not even Nakamura's mouth before she collapses. She pulls Nagisa down to the ground with her.

"Nakamura-san!" Nagisa exclaims in panic, getting herself up into an awkward squat. She doesn't know what to do, trying to help Nakamura sit up. However, Nakamura isn't helping her and Nagisa finds herself shouldering the blonde's weight.

"I want to go back to my room and change," she manages to get out, "but I can't seem to move my body at all..."

Nagisa brushes Nakamura's hair away from her face and flinches. "You're burning up." Since she's not strong enough, Nagisa slowly sets Nakamura down.

"Just imagining those babes is giving me a nosebleed-" Nagisa hears Okajima call out. His previous excitement seems dampened with fatigue and Nagisa snaps her head around to look at him when she hears him gag. Her eyes widen when she sees Okajima hunched over his table, hand over his nose to staunch the blood bursting from it.

"Okajima-kun!" She calls uselessly.

There's the sound of a crash and Nagisa turns to see Muramatsu crashed on the floor.

"Is Nakamura-san okay?" Kaede asks in a rush. Nagisa gasps, having not noticed Kaede's presence, and returns her attention to the blonde in front of her.

"I think she has a fever," Nagisa says uselessly.

Hearing the hotel doors crash open, Nagisa redirects her attention and sees Karasuma. She's relieved at once, reassured that the teacher would take control of the situation. Karma rushes over (as much as Karma ever rushes) to where Karasuma is. Because she's watching him, Nagisa sees panic settle on Karasuma's face as he speaks to the waitress.

 _No hospital..._ anxiety hits Nagisa like a car. She sucks in a breath. What is going to happen to her classmates?

At that moment, Karasuma receives a call.

Nagisa and Kaede exchange looks, then Nagisa pulls out her phone.

"Ritsu," Kaede whispers.

"Understood," Ritsu bows her head.

A low voice, rough like gravel and unrecognisable comes from the phone.

"Hey there sensei."

Simply the voice makes Nagisa's hands tremble.

She and Kaede listen to the man in frightened silence, hearing him outline the virus and how it will _kill_ their classmates in a week. How there is only one antidote. How the man 'can't be bothered' to bring the antidote to them and how they should go to him, where he's at a hotel on the top of the island's mountain.

Karasuma gestures Nagisa and Kaede over. Ritsu shuts off the audio and pulls up a map of the hotel instead, allowing Karasuma to see exactly how the island looks.

Because they are so close, Nagisa and Kaede hear the exact moment the man asks him to send two students still standing over to him. Nagisa's heart immediately clenches.

"Let's see...how about that pair standing in front of you right now?"

Nagisa freezes. She feels Kaede slowly slipping her hand into hers. He can see them?

"I've told the front desk to expect you. Follow the rules, and we'll swap the target for the remedy and that's that. But contact any outsider, or be even a little late and the remedy will be history."

"I've got to thank you for immobilising him like that. Looks like the Gods are on my side."

The call ends and no one moves.

Nagisa is wrong. What is on the other side of the call is not a man, but a monster.

Then abruptly, Karasuma mashes Korosensei against the table with enough force that Nagisa can hear the table grating against the plastic Korosensei is inside.

"He can see us," Nagisa whispers to Kaede, her eyes searching the outdoor cafe for cameras.

"Probably hacked the hotel cameras," seeming to be doing the same thing, Kaede answers in an extremely low voice. Her lips don't even move.

Nagisa spots about three and soon locates a blind spot. Should they inform Karasuma...?

Nagisa decides against it. If the monster can see them, moving out from the camera's gaze would only make it put up its guard. Besides, Karasuma has definitely already located the blind spot. Nagisa notices him eyeing it in frustration once he flings Korosensei down onto the table in a rare show of emotion.

Fortunately, Karasuma seems to already have drawn the same conclusions as them about the monster being able to see them. He moves into the hotel to dish out commands to his subordinates while Nagisa and Kaede simply stand there, hand in hand as though sharing their fears will somehow make them smaller.

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

Their classmates are lain on the ground on makeshift beds.

"Karasuma-san," Karasuma's subordinate comes rushing out to where Karasuma is watching over his students. "As we expected, it's useless. Even if we play the government card, the hotel only replies with claims of privacy."

From the frantic expression on her face, Nagisa assumes that she has tried everything. Quietly, she waits with Kaede behind the table where Korosensei rests. Neither dare make a move. Her eyes flick over to where Karma stands _just_ in the blind spot, looking like he wants to dash over to where Nagisa is. Nagisa had been very insistent with her body language (as subtly as she could which mostly meant frantically texting him under the tablecloth) to make him stay in place and not enter the gaze of them monster.

"It figures," Karasuma says in frustration.

"It does?" Korosensei asks.

"The mountaintop hotel is a noted site for illegal negotiations," Karasuma explains.

"A remote island in the southern seas?" Irina steps away from the students and glances at where her colleagues are. "Couldn't ask for a better location."

"They have connections with government higher ups," continuing, Karasuma has regained his cool expression. Despite that, Nagisa easily sees the tension in his brow. "Even the police have their hands tied."

Just then, Karma crosses his arms. "So the government can't do anything," he says in a flippant manner. Nagisa glances at him and sees the accusation in his gaze, the accusation that contrasts with his careless manner of speech. When Karasuma doesn't negate the statement, Karma's eyes narrow and he moves to Karasuma's side.

"Let's do something about the cameras first," Nagisa is barely able to hear Karma when she strains her ears over the panicked reactions of her classmates.

"What do we do?! At this rate, it'll be a massacre!" Eyes wider than saucers, Yoshida's voice holds nothing but alarm as he whips his head to and fro. He practically shouts the opinions of all their classmates. "We didn't come here to _be_ killed."

The irony in the situation finally strikes Nagisa and she can't do anything but smile bitterly. This was supposed to be their assassination island. They had come here to kill but now they were _being_ killed.

"Why are you smiling?" Yoshida snaps, causing Nagisa to flinch. The bitter smile slips from her lips and she replies automatically.

"My apologies, mo-"

Catching herself in time, Nagisa abruptly stops talking. She senses Kaede and Karma's eyes on her and hurries to cover her slip.

"Sorry, I'm just so frustrated."

"Then _why would you smile?!_ Are you insane? This-"

"Calm down, Yoshida-kun," Hara's feeble voice cuts through Yoshida's words. "We won't die that easily...just come up with a way to deal with this..."

She is one of the affected students, lying down on a makeshift bed on the floor.

"Right...sorry Hara..."

"It's too dicey to do what he says," Terasaka announces from right behind Nagisa and Kaede. Nagisa nearly jumps but catches herself as Terasaka pounds on her head. "Sending these two runts?" _Excuse me?_ "These two _squirts_?!" Nagisa has no idea how to react, but clearly Karma has no qualms. She can feel his bloodlust and she's not even his target. Terasaka does too, because he stops hitting her. "We'll just be handin' him hostages!"

She wants to be mad, but can't quite find it in herself.

"First off, I'm pissed at anyone who would even do this kind of thing," Terasaka announces angrily, jerking his thumb to where Muramatsu and Hazama are lying flat on makeshift beds, "no one lays a hand on my flunkies!"

 _You can say friends, you know_ , Nagisa thinks but doesn't say.

"That simple-minded guy," Hazama smiles despite her hard words and Naigsa's heart clenches as Muramatsu laughs his agreement. She likes Hazama. She's dark and a little strange, but she's a nice girl who Nagisa worked well with. The pair of them never had many opportunities to get closer and if they...and when they get out of this situation, Nagisa swears up and down that she would talk to Hazama more. She would talk to _all_ her classmates more.

"I say we ignore his demands!" Terasaka shouts. "Let's get everyone to a hospital in the city!"

"I'm against that," unexpectedly, the always quiet Takebayashi breaks into the conversation, carrying a bucket pushing up his glasses, "if it really is an unknown artificial virus, even the biggest hospitals won't have the antivirals to stop it," he kneels next to a pair of makeshift beds and pulls out a plastic bag from the bucket, "the time wasted in bringing in the sick could hurt them more."

"Say _what_?!" Terasaka yells.

"For now, we'll treat their symptoms," Takebayashi shovels ice from the bucket into the plastic bag and sets it on Muramatsu's head.

"Takebayashi..."

 _If only our assassination attempt had not gone so well...if Korosensei could move, we might still have a chance..._ resolving herself to the exchange, Nagisa swallows, then speaks up. "There's nothing else we can do. We have no choice...the antidote...we need to get out hands on it."

"So we have no choice but to follow what that guy says right?" Kaede murmurs, lowering her head.

Nagisa lifts her head and turns to Karasuma. "Karasuma-sensei-" She pauses when she sees Karma there, just out of sight from the camera. He's holding a computer, with words enlarged on it. It says...

 _Nagisa: please let us go to the hotel!_

Nagisa blinks, then repeats the words.

"Nagisa-san..." Korosensei says.

Karma clicks the mousepad.

 _shut up octopus_

"We will leave that as the last resort!" Karasuma says sharply.

"Nyuya!" Korosensei exclaims in obvious surprise.

Karma clicks and new words appear on the screen. _Is he using powerpoint?_ Nagisa wonders as Kaede looks up and also catches sight of the computer.

 _Pudding: but ks, our classmates will...will..._

"But Karasuma-sensei!" Kaede makes her voice so desperate that Nagisa can believe that the words had come from her alone. "If we don't, if we don't...our classmates will...will..."

Nagisa sees Karma raise his eyebrows but click the computer mouse pad again.

"There's no guarantee that that guy will let the kids go after they deliver him," Irina says severely. She clearly ignores Karma's computer, but the redhead doesn't look worried. In fact, on the next powerpoint slide (for that _must_ be what Karma is using), it simply reads, _whatever bitch-sensei says_.

 _N: even so..._

 _P: we have to take that chance!_

 _Act scared! like u dun wanna do this but u have 2_

The two girls act out their parts, both showing their obvious reluctance and determination.

"Enough," Karasuma brings his fist to his forehead, looking stressed. Finally, he points to the edge of the outdoor cafe. "Just sit there. Don't do anything."

 _Listen 2 him. Dun move after u sit, but look calm._

Click

 _Find a position u would stay in 4 n hour._

Click

 _Stay till I call u._

Nagisa and Kaede exchange looks as Karma turns the computer to their other classmates then act a little more as they move across the wooden platform and sit at the edge.

Nagisa shuffles until she finds a spot she would stay in for an hour and Kaede does the same as they hear high heels clumping across the wooden flooring of the outdoor cafe.

"Oi, Karasuma!" Irina starts to shout when Karasuma interrupts.

"We'll discuss this inside."

Neither Kaede nor Nagisa move.

After a while, Karma's voice calls them. "Move. We've got a fraction of footage of you both on the wood place on the camera and Ritsu's looping it. We're taking the audio from a different camera and feeding it into the one there, We removed the audio from the other cameras too, so we can talk freely now. That includes you, Korosensei."

"You called me octopus just now Karma-kun!" Korosensei protests.

"I don't recall the word octopus leaving my lips in the last two minutes," Karma replies flippantly then glances at Karasuma. He and Irina must have come out from the hotel. "You _do_ have a plan right, Karasuma-se-n-sei?"

Karasuma doesn't answer as Nagisa and Kaede make their way back across to the table where Korosensei rests.

"There _is_ a way," Korosensei interjects.

Nagisa's phone beeps.

"Korosensei?" Ritsu asks. "We're all set."

"It looks like Ritsu-san has completed the prep work I asked her to do," Korosensei announces the same way he delivers his lectures, "I need the healthy students to come here. Wear something you don't mind getting dirty."

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Three cars pull up on the base of the mountain.

The healthy E class students flow out from the cars, staring at the mountain. Nagisa herself stands between Karma and Kaede.

She glances at her still-standing peers.

Kimura. Isogai. Okano. Chiba. Yada. Fuwa. Hayami. Sugaya. Terasaka. Yoshida. Kataoka. Ritsu.

Beep!

Nagisa lifts her phone and many of her peers do the same, Isogai sharing with Chiba.

"I infiltrated the hotel's computers and got schematics of the interior, complete with guard locations," Ritsu announces with a smile. She then outlines the positioning of the guards - mostly at and about the main entrance - and how it's not possible to enter the hotel without going past the front desk...unless you go by the back, where there is an entrance by the super steep mountain. The terrain is impassable and hence it has no guards there.

"If you don't want the enemy to get his way, there's only one thing to do!" Korosensei smiles at them from his waist-height plastic bag. "Not counting the ten patients and the two left behind to care for them, all capable students must sneak in from here, get the jump on the guys at the top and steal that remedy!"

Nagisa swallows. A hand slips into hers and squeezes gently. Feeling the callouses and the familiar writer's bump, Nagisa closes her eyes and squeezes back.

A moment later, their hands separate as they prepare for the upcoming task.

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 **QUICK QUESTION(S)!**

 **Would you prefer long chapters (in which I include every piece of dialogue like I've been doing) or shorter chapters (whereby I summarise parts of the dialogue)?**

 **Review and tell me which!**


	22. Chapter 21

**This is really long. I apologise to you guys *bows*.**

 **Thank you for reading this.**

 **At any rate, I may be doing some editing to my previous chapters because I realise the way I wrote Nagisa's mother is really unforgivable and I need to do some changes. I'll leave a note on top of chapters I edited. If I get around to it. Hopefully I get around to it. Yeah.**

 **Anyway.**

 **For the next chapter quick question: Kanzaki and Sugino or Kaede and Asano?**

 **LET'S GO**

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"Not counting the ten patients and the two left behind to care for them, all capable students must sneak in from here, get the jump on the guys at the top and steal that remedy!"

At Korosensei's bombshell announcement, Karma had taken Nagisa's hand to give her encouragement. As he releases her hand, Karasuma protests, "It's too dangerous! The ease at which he threatened us shows us that we're against a real pro!"

"Yes," Korosensei hums, "perhaps it would be easiest to just hand me over. What do you think? It's all up to you."

Nagisa gives her trio of teachers a glance before consulting their group, who all look mildly surprised.

"But...this..." Yada trails off.

"It's too hard," Sugaya laments.

Nagisa looks back at her teachers and sees Irina scowling at Karasuma. "They'll plummet to their deaths before they reach the hotel."

When Karasuma lowers his head in defeat, it abruptly occurs to Nagisa just what a struggle Karasuma is going through. She could kick herself for not realising it sooner. After all, he is their teacher and she had somewhat gotten used to the infallible Korosensei (who sets the bar for teachers impossibly high). However, Karasuma is only human. He can't do what Korosensei can and fly into the hotel, liquify himself and travel through the vents, then ambush the monster. He can't. As such, he's clearly at a loss of what to choose: to send Nagisa and Kaede to a dodgy deal after all - a deal which the monster may not even fulfil, causing him to lose twelve students and his assassination target - or to send the thirteen remaining able students on a mission to retrieve the antidote - an extremely dangerous mission that borderline fatal and could result in their deaths anyway. Karasuma had been set on the latter option...until they had seen exactly _how_ dangerous the mission was. His first priority is and always has been the safety of the E students.

There are more options, of course, but Nagisa only wants to think about those two. Biting her lip, she turns the situation over in her head.

"Nagisa-san, Kayano-san," Karasuma starts to say.

Before he can say anything Nagisa decides to choose for him. She's not alone. Several of her group have also approached the looming rock wall, testing it for hand and footholds.

"Well, if you're worried about the climbing," Isogai is the first to mount it, easily finding notches in the rock to use, "this much is not too hard."

"It's nothing like our usual training," Okano is the next up, fast and looking right at home rock climbing. She almost catches up to Isogai at her pace, striking Nagisa as rather like a...

Monkey.

Recalling what Maehara likes to call Okano, Nagisa's lips twitch up. Her feet still, only for someone to lay their hand on her head and say, "don't slack off now."

She glances at Karma and grins. "I'm not."

"Yeah, you are," he tousles her hair, messing it up, and _poof_ , is climbing just like a monkey, "don't tell me you can't do this much?" He quirks his brow, smiling his usual single canine smirk.

A spark of competitiveness lights in Nagisa's chest. It's small, but it prompts her to quickly finds her own handholds and pulls herself up the mountain. She's always had weak arm strength, so she's impressed with her improvement these past months. And it _must_ be influence from both Karma and Kaede, who are too ridiculous for their own good, that causes her to stick out her tongue at Karma when she passes him.

"But we haven't practiced fighting an unknown foe in an unknown hotel," when Nagisa lifts her head, she sees Isogai hanging off the mountain with only one hand and one foot to anchor him. He's looking at the ground, where their teachers are. "So Karasuma-sensei, it won't be easy, but could you lead our mission?"

"We'll make that jerk pay for messin' with us!" Terasaka shouts.

Several of their group have halted their climb, most standing or sitting on platforms of rock not far from the base of the cliff. The more proficient have copied Isogai's way of half hanging off the cliff to look at Karasuma.

To put it simply, Karasuma looks stunned. Nagisa joins her group on one of the platforms and wonders what is going on in his head.

"As you can see, they are no ordinary students," Korosensei announces like he's bragging, "you have a fifteen member special forces unit at your command."

"Fifteen?" Irina asks. She glances at the students, likely counting them.

"Don't forget about me~" Ritsu announces cheerily from Nagisa's phone.

"Now, it's time!" With the same tone as Ritsu, Korosensei sounds like he's smirking at Karasuma. Their teacher closes his eyes and visibly turns the problem over his head. When he opens them, he seems to have come to a conclusion.

"Attention! Our objective is the top floor of the hotel! Our mission will shift from a stealth infiltration to a surprise attack!" As Karasuma bellows his instructions, Nagisa notes how his government official mode has taken over. "We'll use the same hand signals and link-ups from training! The only difference is our target! You have three minutes to memories the map! we begin at 2150!"

"Right!" The group shouts as a whole.

Everyone promptly finds places to sit and take out their phones to study the map Ritsu provides them with. Nagisa finds herself sitting in between Karma and Kaede as she desperately tries to lock the map into her head.

Not even ten seconds into their three minutes and Nagisa can hear whispers from the outcrop of rocks on top of her.

"We have to tell Hinano later," Nagisa hears Okano say in a low voice.

"Focus, Hinata," is Kataoka's reply, just as soft.

"But she'll only be jealous," Hayami answers Okano, also softly.

"Yes," sounding grudging, Okano agrees, "but she'll be upset if we _don't_ relay that to her."

"Don't bother. You'll just make her ovaries explode." Nagisa nearly splutters when she overhears _Hayami_ say that in her usual emotionless voice.

"Her... _what_?!" Okano has no qualms and _does_ splutter, raining spittle down.

"Rinka, where on earth did you hear that from?" Kataoka doesn't exactly _splutter_ but she's sounding close.

"Okajima."

"I'm going to beat that guy up once he recovers," Okano says darkly.

At that, Kaede lets out a small burst of laughter, prompting glares and Nagisa recalls the map she is supposed to memorise. She lowers her head and continues to study it.

Now, this would be difficult but not impossible if not for Karma and Kaede, who seem to be having a mini war with Nagisa between them. Ordinarily, Nagisa would split up the fight but she really can't free up brain space for them now and just lets them argue in their low tones. She doesn't even understand what they're on about.

She balances her phone on her knee and pulls out a hair tie from where she had wrapped it around her phone strap. The pretty pastel pink nadeshiko looking up at her is a familiar sight and she finger-combs her hair and puts it up into a ponytail. Then she picks up her phone and continues.

When she's about half done, Karma abruptly flings his arms about her and pulls her towards him. The back of her head bangs his collarbones but she ignores him and continues memorising the floor she's staring at. As she closes her eyes to draw the map mentally and test if she had recalled it properly, she suddenly feels another set of arms around her waist.

Opening her eyes, Nagisa stares in confusion at Kaede, sprawled across the bit of rock she, Karma and Nagisa are on as she hugs Nagisa's stomach and glares up at Nagisa.

"Did I do something?" Nagisa asks after a moment.

"Nothing," Kaede snarls from Nagisa's waist.

"Don't worry about it, sweetheart," Karma answers too, unexpectedly from right next to her ear. Nagisa can't help but shy away from the sudden warm breath on her ear and the embarrassing nickname. However, she's trapped between his arms and can't move.

So she just turns bright red and tries to refocus on her map.

However, this action seems to anger Kaede, who promptly starts arguing with Karma. "Don't _do_ that!"

"Do what~?"

Sigh. They continue to bicker.

Nagisa does her best to block them out and focus on the second half of the map.

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"What are they doing?" Rinka murmurs to Hinata when she notices the odd trio below her.

"Well, it sort of looks like Karma-kun and Kayanocchi are fighting over Nagisacchi," Hinata eyes the pile up below. While Nagisa looks unconcerned, focusing on her phone, the odd trio has attracted the attention of some of the others. Karma has gotten his girlfriend inside the circle his arms, Nagisa leaning her narrow torso against him and using his collarbones as a pillow for her head. Nagisa looks so comfortable...so _used_ to her position. It occurs to Hinata that Nagisa may be used to it because Karma often holds her like that, his arms around her like he's trying to prevent people from stealing her away while trying not to seem overly concerned.

In this case, the _people_ would be Kaede, who has flung herself over Nagisa. Kayano's arms go around Nagisa's waist and she's glaring at Karma fiercely and obviously trying to free Nagisa from his grasp without disturbing Nagisa at all. Nagisa's extraordinarily lack of concern is one of the most amazing things in this situation, even as Kayano and Karma engage in a battle of words. Hinata can't hear what they're saying but wishes she could.

Then, Nagisa abruptly keeps her phone away and claps her hands together. She smiles brightly and announces, "I'm done."

It is then that Hinata suddenly recalls the task assigned to her and turns her attention back to her map. She's burning with the want to find out just _what_ that fight was about, but Hinata has no desire to drag down the group by not memorising the map.

If only she had better hearing...

Oh, maybe Korosensei heard what those two had been arguing about!

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Back at the outdoor cafe, Manami and Takebayashi are hard at work caring for their classmates.

As Manami replaces the ice pack on Hazama's forehead, she takes a short break to check the time on her phone.

"Fifty minutes left..." She murmurs.

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The moment the three minutes are up, Ritsu alerts them and the able bodied students start their climb up the mountain.

Okano is up in a flash, climbing the steep cliff with the same ease that Kataoka has in the water.

"Don't get left behind!" Okano calls cheerfully, almost ten metres above the rest.

"Okano...sure can move," Kimura pants as he pulls himself up the mountain.

"Yeah. She's got the rest of us beat when it comes to gymnastics," Isogai agrees, coming to a stop not far below Kimura.

Nagisa silently agrees with them as she pulls herself up the mountain. Below her, she can hear someone squawking loudly and winces.

"Our teachers on the other hand..." Kimura and Isogai turn to look at the source of the squawks.

Karasuma is a considerable distance from the last student, rock climbing with Korosensei hanging off his wrist and Irina hanging off his back.

"One guy has to carry the rest. Literally."

"Too shaky!" Irina screeches. "Climb more carefully! Ugh! Karasuma!"

Nagisa giggles into her palm before resuming her way up. She tests rocks for handholds and has moved up another metre or so when she hears the arguing. Sighing, Nagisa continues to climb the cliff.

As soon as the time had been up, Karma and Kaede had launched themselves at the mountain in clear competition. They weren't as fast as Okano, but they were ahead of the rest of their group and certainly ahead of Nagisa, who was somewhere towards the back.

"The students all have exceptional balance," Korosensei hums.

"I have them climb the mountain behind the school," Karasuma answers over Irina's complaints.

"I see. No wonder they had those flyboards down pat," Korosensei answers cheerfully, as if he can't hear Irina yeling,

"Shut up and climb already!" Irina demands loudly in Karasuma's ear. "My arms are getting tired!"

Hearing the commotion, Nagisa has to cling to the wall and just laugh for several long seconds, several long seconds that allow her to become practically the slowest student.

"Why did Bitch-sensei come again?" Chiba asks, peering down at the teachers.

"She didn't want to be left out," Kataoka answers seriously.

"We can use her as bait, maybe," passing the pair, Hayami shoots them her cool look. "Come on. You two are going to be left behind."

Nagisa mentally swears to become Hayami's disciple and learn how she is able to keep her cool in every situation.

"Nagisa-san, are you okay down there?" At Kataoka's shout, Nagisa manages to bite off her laughter and continue her climb.

It's hardly the time to be laughing, but once she had started it had been so freeing. Like the mission they were about to be involved in would be a success. Like her classmates would be fine and they could recount their rescue mission as one of those class stories long after they graduated. Like the monster wasn't really someone to be concerned with, despite the fact that he had to be someone high up to know about Korosensei.

Her last thought sobers her up, but Nagisa silently slaps herself in the face. Brooding isn't going to do much, unless she had been transported into one of those black and white films. It's better to keep her spirits up.

Everything is going to be fine.

Another loud shout alerts all the students. "Slow down you absolute moron!"

"I'd love to," Karma answers mildly, "but we're kind of on a schedule here. Mind the sharp rock."

"What sharp...oh." Nagisa hears Kaede respond. "That was close...WAIT, YOU'RE CHEATING!"

"Shush!" Kataoka scolds.

"Sorry..."

Nagisa is far slower than the arguing pair, but hearing her funny teachers just about makes her potential shame about her pace fade.

"Faster, faster!" Irina demands...or more like whines. "Are those biceps just for show?"

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Chapter 21:

Pandemonium time!

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Nagisa is the last person to reach the top of the cliff, but it's purely Irina's fault. Her dress had snagged on some rocks and she had nearly strangled Karasuma when he had simply tried to rip it ("Do you know how much this costs? Do you know how far that rip is going to go? Just what are you trying to do!) Nagisa, who had been the closest student, had climbed over to where her trio of teachers were and distangled Irina's dress. Unfortunately, that had required her to go underneath her teachers and, not long after Karasuma had zoomed up the mountain (apparently finding strength in his frustration with his colleagues), had snagged her dress on the same rock.

However, Nagisa had no qualms about ripping her dress to get herself out and had done just that. All the same, she had fallen behind all her fellow able bodied classmates.

Silently sulking, Nagisa pulls herself to the top of the cliff.

"There you are," Karma whispers.

Nagisa is so shocked that she feels her heart leap out from her chest and almost falls backwards, but catches herself in time. She pouts at Karma as she crouches, dusting off her skirt. Discreetly, she covers up the rip. Karma helps her brush her back.

"It's a good thing it was cool tonight," he says with a smile.

Nagisa nods. "Though with the way you were tearing up the mountain, it likely had no effect. Wasn't it hot rushing like that?"

"Not at all," Karma answers. "Now hurry."

The pair dart over to where the rest of the group are, crouched behind a railing. The low stone railing likely functioned as a way of warning guests away from the cliff without disturbing the scenery or wasting too many resources.

Nagisa crouches near Karasuma and hears him speak to Ritsu in a low voice.

"Ritsu, run a final check on our invasion route."

"Yes, sir!" Saluting, Ritsu smiles up from the phone screen. Her volume is also lower than usual. "Displaying interior map."

The structure of the hotel appears in flash. It is designed rather like a layered cake.

"Final check: we can't use the elevators, as they require a passcard for every floor," a yellow arrow appears on the three dimensional model of the hotel, moving to show them their planned route. They are to enter from the entrance in front of them, then sneak a small way around the lobby to the stairs. After ascending to the second floor, they have to walk half a circle to the next set of stairs, then cut across the third floor to the next. They can then go to the fifth floor, sneak over to the sixth set of staircases and so on. "We'll have to take the stairs," seeing the scattered staircases, Nagisa can't help but feel annoyed, "but they're scattered throughout the hotel," Ritsu sounds like she's frowning, mirroring Nagisa's thoughts, "so we'll have to cover some distance on foot."

The layout is shown on everyone's phone, but Nagisa simply shares with Karma since he already has his out.

"It's like a television station," Chiba says with some awe. Nagisa glances at him.

"What do you mean?" Kaede asks, sharing her phone with him.

"Apparently, they have complex layouts to prevents a terrorist takeover."

"Huh. You sure know a lot."

"No wonder the bad guys love staying here," Sugaya has one eye half closed as he stares at the hotel. If Nagisa isn't wrong, he's probably mentally drawing something inspired from it.

Noticing that Korosensei had been set on the ground near Irina (where his face has turned a suspicious pink), Nagisa volunteers to carry him. They can't have Korosensei limiting Karasuma's ability even an ounce, after all.

"Unlocking side entrance," Ritsu announces.

The group hears a beep before they dash over and enter the hotel through the door Ritsu had unlocked. Karasuma opens it first, checking for guards, then waves them in.

They end up in a small corridor that clearly goes around the lobby. It stops about twenty metres ahead and they peer into the hotel lobby.

"There are more guards than I expected," Karasuma voices.

The lobby is littered with guards, almost like they have an infestation. Each wears a suit, a stern face carved from stone and carries a rifle.

"It'll be too difficult for us all to get past," Nagisa observes.

Karasuma stares into the lobby without a change in expression, clearly mulling something over.

 _Should only a few of us go on from here_ _?_ Karasuma considers the idea. _No_ , _the chance of facing multiple enemies makes it risky. What should we do?_

"What's the holdup?" Irina speaks up, sounding annoyed. "Just go on through?"

Nagisa stares at Irina in surprise and sees her expression mirrored on all her peers; even the usually blank-faced Hayami has her mouth open.

"Do you have any idea of the situation here, Bitch-sensei?" Sugaya demands.

"How are we supposed to make it past all those guards?" Kimura sounds equally skeptical.

"Did your big boobs steal all the nutrients that should have gone to your head?" Bursting out with a weird comment, Kaede also adds to the confused comments.

Irina ignores the comments, though Nagisa sees a vein bulge in her forehead at Kaede's, and glides over to the end of the corridor. As she passes Karsuma, she lays a hand on his shoulder and pauses. Nagisa can't see Irina's expression, but Karasuma's brows furrow.

Irina peers into the lobby. "Just go on through," then she flips her hair and sashays into the lobby. She looks right at home in her fancy red evening dress and her lose, pretty blonde hair.

Korosensei verbalises the sound effect for a grin.

As Nagisa watches, Irina suddenly stumbles.

"She's blown it," Okano whispers.

"No, she hasn't," Yada refutes firmly.

Irina's walk becomes uneven and she makes her way over to where the guards are. However, she does it in a dignified and eye-catching way, drawing attention to her shapely body. She continues forward unevenly, before walking face-first into into one of the guards with the most delicate of gasps. Every guard has their eye on her, light blushes on their cheeks.

She steps back, shoulders squishing together and her head lowered so her hair covers her face.

Her students can't see her, but Irina has subtly adjusted her positioning so that it would be impossible to miss her feminine wiles.

"I'm sorry," she says softly, sweetly, and brushes her hair away from her face. She doesn't lift her head, instead peering up at the guards through her lashes, blushes lightly as she poses delicately. "I seem to have had too much of the liquor in my room."

"Oh, er, t-think nothing of it miss," the guard answers with a wide grin on his face.

"I'm the pianist schedules to perform here next week," smiling at the guard, Irina then points at the piano in the middle of the lobby. She proceeds to pose again as she glances back to the guard. "I came early to see the sights.

"A pianist, huh?" Not far from the guard she is talking too, Irina overhears a pair of guards. "We get 'em all the time."

Irina's lips lift into a slightly smug smile before she closes her eyes. She opens them and glides over to the piano while staggering a bit. "I'd like to see if the piano's tuned," she pulls the chair out, "it'll help me sober up." She then turns a sweet, innocent look to the guard. "Could I play a teensy little bit, hmm?"

"Um..." the guard is all smiles as he stares at her, then reluctantly turns away, "I'll go check with the front desk-"

"Aww, come on," Irina makes her voice ever so slightly whiny as she grabs at the guard's arm weakly, "I want you to listen to me play. And then critique me."

"C-Crique you?" Another asks.

"Yes," Irina closes her eyes. With her blush and seductive clothes, she looks extremely erotic, especially when she carefully sounds out her next few words, "critique me carefully..." she lifts her hands and opens her eyes halfway. The half lidded eyes only add to the erotism. "And if I do anything wrong, will you _scold_ me?"

She then brings her fingers down onto the piano, the first notes of the song she has in mind. It's a good one, a grand piano that has clearly been well cared for.

Irina holds the note for eight counts, then begins the song.

The group makes sounds of surprise.

"Wow."

"She's amazing!"

"Ah, the _Fantaisie-Imprompti_ ," Korosensei reveals.

"Huh?" Nagisa blinks.

"An assassin who not only has obvious skill, but also knows all too well how to charm, how to use her wiles..." sure enough, Nagisa can't tear her eyes from Irina as she plays, "using her whole body in such a bewitching way as she plays. It's aural seduction. All eyes are on her."

Irina abruptly stopped.

"Hey, don't watch from so far away!" She turns to the guards. "Come closer and make sure I do well." The guards move forward almost unconsciously.

Then, by her knee, Irina flashes a two and a zero before pointing her thumb away from the piano. _I'll buy you twenty minutes. Go._

Nagisa doesn't realise that her peers have started moving, sneaking along the side of the lobby, until Karma pulls her along.

She had been spellbound and likely so had her peers. All of them were probably wondering at what a beautiful teacher they had. Especially, Nagisa thinks, when she thought about how harsh Irina's life had been. Karma lets go of Nagisa's arm when she has gotten a hold on herself, something she finds a little lonely.

"We all made it through," Kaede rejoices as they arrive at the stairs.

"Isn't Bitch-sensei something?" Sugaya praises. "Playing like that with those nails?"

"Oh, I didn't notice," Nagisa's hand flew to her mouth. "How _does_ she manage? It's such a pretty tune."

"Who knows," Isogai taps his chin, "she never said anything about being able to play."

"There's more to her than what you see everyday," Karasuma speaks up, attracting the attention of the students. "The better the assassin, the broader her skillset. The woman who's been teaching you conversation skills is amongst the top one or two masters of seduction in the world."

"So she's that amazing," Kaede murmurs.

"Nurufufufu," from Nagisa's wrist, Korosensei smiles up at Karasuma, "so my current immobility won't be a problem."

"Even if you say that, you'd likely have a crass way of dealing with the situation," Kaede points out with a pout, "like knocking out all the guards."

"Hardly! I would bundle you up and transport you to the stairs one by one with my mach speed!"

"That sounds horrible," Sugaya answers candidly, his eye twitching.

"Anyway," Nagisa adjusts her grip on Korosensei and glances at Kaede, "let's go?"

"Yep!" Kaede nods and their group starts up the stairs. Nagisa glances up at Karma. How odd. Earlier too, he hadn't spoken up. Normally, Karma wouldn't have missed such a golden opportunity to tease Bitch-sensei or make fun of her, but he hadn't said a word.

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From the piano, Irina silently sends her support to her able bodied students.

 _Don't let them get the better of you._

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The group made it to the third floor corridor.

"Now that we're past the heavy security at the entrance," sweeping his eyes over the group, Karasuma reveals their plan, we should be able to pose as regular guests."

 _Uh, Karasuma-sensei...?_ Nagisa glances down at the long rip in her skirt. It's not very obvious, but no child who can afford to stay in such a luxury hotel is going to be walking around with ripped clothes.

"Guests? Do they put up groups of junior-high kids here?" Sugaya asks.

"Plenty, from what I've heard," Karasuma answers, "the coddled kids of millionaires and celebrities. Brought up like decadent royalty, they keep innocent faces while dabbling in darker pursuits."

Nagisa feels a shiver travel through her body. She drops to the back of the group, where Karma is.

"Right!" Korosensei agrees, and Nagisa holds him up so the rest can hear him. "So walk around acting like _those_ kids, looking down your noses at the whole world."

Nagisa bears witness to the way her classmates suddenly transform, all making weird faces and behaving strangely. Only Karma, Chiba and Hayami remain the same.

"Yes, just like that!" Korosensei says with pride.

"Is it now?" Karasuma asks skeptically. "And don't you join in!" Nagisa looks down and sees green stripes across Korosensei's face.

"However, we do not know how our enemy looks like. He might attack while posing as a regular guest like us," Korosensei reminds the group, "proceed with plenty of caution."

"'Kay," the transformed group of E class students reply while sounding grudging.

Nagisa originally had been going to ask Karma some questions, but with Korosensei there listening in, she had decided against it. However, she really wanted to know. Maybe Korosensei's hearing is bad in that form? If so, she can pass it to Terasaka and Yoshida who are the furthest from Nagisa and Karma.

"Korosensei, how's your hearing like that?" Karma asks, surprising Nagisa. Had he read her mind?

"Extraordinary," Korosensei smirks, "so anything you want to say to Nagisa-san will have to be things you don't mind me overhearing."

So even if she tosses Korosensei away, he will still hear them. Debating mentally if she should ask Karma about the hotel and the rich kids in it and all that, Nagisa ends up chewing her lip. On one hand, she really wants to know and knows that Karma knows _all about_ these kinds of places, being the only son of the renowned Akabane family. On the other hand, no one has quite realised that Karma is the child of _that_ family, since Akabane (while uncommon) is not an unheard of surname. Also, Nagisa isn't sure exactly how to phrase her question...

"Nagisa?" Karma's voice interrupts the spirited debate going on.

"Eh? Yes?" Jumping, Nagisa turns to look at Karma with her eyes wide.

"Did you learn any languages when you were studying in England?" He asks.

"What's this all of a sudden?" Nagisa tilts her head.

"Just wondering," when Nagisa peers at Karma's face, he stubbornly turns his head away.

"Hmmm...we learnt French in class," laughing lightly, Nagisa presses her fingers together, "but that was a long time ago."

"French huh..."

"Why do you ask?"

"No reason. You any good?"

"Apparently my accent was. I can only remember how to introduce myself, though. And how to ask for directions and to excuse myself to the toilet..." trailing off, Nagisa glances at Karma. "How many languages do _you_ speak?"

Karma turns to face her with a grin. "Guess." The corners of Nagisa's lips twitch too when she notices the red faintly dusting his cheeks.

"Four?"

"Close," he's walking with his hands in his pockets and Nagisa hasn't even noticed when she looped her arm through his.

"Five?"

"Who knows~"

"What does that mean?"

 _English and Japanese for sure,_ Nagisa pouts as she considers, _probably French, since he's got French blood._ Nagisa blinks. Come to think of it, what was Mr Akabane's race? He had a head full of red hair, so she has always assumed Scottish or something.

"But I remember your Japanese was really good when you first came to Japan," Karma hums.

"Was it? I don't recall..."

"It was, it was. Back then-"

" _STOP!_ " Korosensei yells in anguish and English. "Don't reveal anymore! This teacher won't be able to remember and recall it for later! And if I don't remember it, how can I put it in my non-fiction book?"

"P-Put what?" Nagisa stammers out. She feels her classmates eyes fall on her and releases Karma's arm. No matter what Karma says about public decency not being something to worry about, she still thinks that it's rude to shove their couple-like actions in other's face.

"Insider private information about Nagisa-san and Karma-kun's love lives!"

"You're still going on about that?!" Protesting, Nagisa finds herself shaking Korosensei in her embarrassment. "I thought you gave up!"

"On the contrary, I have been even more alert. Little hints that I have picked up about Nagisa-san and Karma-kun all go into the novel. Of course, an interview would be best-"

"But we were just having a _normal_ conversa-Karma, don't just stand there and smirk!"

Karma continues to smirk.

"Don't you see, Nagisa-san? No couple has a 'normal' conversation, each conversation is a window into their relationship!"

"Aren't you just reading too much into it?" Karma arches a brow.

"If Karma-kun promises to give me a tell all inter-"

"Rather than that, Korosensei, you should be focussing on the current situa-abion..." Nagisa's hands fly to her mouth as she winces.

"Are you okay?" Karma pulls Nagisa's hands away and peers at her face, like he can see what had happened just like that.

"Y-Yesh..." Nagisa's tongue throbs and she runs it along the roof of her mouth with the hope that the pain would go away. _Only children bite their tongues while talking,_ she thinks with embarrassment.

"Nagisa, what happened?" Kaede asks, dropping back.

"It's fine, I've got her," Karma answers, "go back to your partner."

"Ehhh..."

"Karma-kun," adding the suffix for some reason, Nagisa blinks uncertainty as Karma's eyes roam her face, "you should look ahead of you when you walk."

He releases her with a frown before snapping his fingers. "Here, Nagisa, I've got some gum or something," Karma rummages through his pockets, "if you chew it, you might feel better."

"More likely she'll bite her tongue or something," Kaede grumbles.

Karma pauses mid-search and Nagisa can practically see the realisation dawning in his eyes. Then he frowns, clearly not knowing what to do when someone has bitten their tongue.

"I'll be okay in a bit," the throbbing has already started to fade.

"Karma-kun: useless at treating everyday wounds." Korosensei announces, sounding like he's taking notes.

"I'm not useless."

Nagisa coughs.

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As Manami finishes replacing the makeshift ice packs, she picks up the bucket filled with half melted ice up. As one would expect, it's very heavy, but she squares her shoulders and lifts it. Besides, compared to what her classmates are going through, this is nothing.

"Sorry...Okuda...Takebayashi..." A weak voice comes from one of the makeshift beds. Sugino lifts his hand and presses it to the icepack like the heat had spread even to his hand.

Manami glances over and smiles in case he can see her, though her mask probably hides it. "I-It's okay."

"Their fevers are so high," speaking from the table where he's packing ice cubes to make ice packs like a machine line, Takebayashi works nimbly, "at the very least, we need to cool their heads down to avoid brain damage."

"Y-Yes." Manami starts towards the hotel to make and take a new batch of ice, but stops. Gathering her courage, she asks a question she had been wondering over since Takebayashi instructed her to put on a mask to reduce the chances of contracting the virus. "Umm...could a virus this powerful spread throughout the island?"

"Probably not. I mean, we're okay, right?" His fingers move systematically, shoveling ice cubes into the plastic bag, "It's likely to be transmitted orally. It'd have to mixed into food or drink or something. I doubt there's any risk of it spreading to a random bystander. I told the other team that too."

 _He sure knows a lot..._ Manami ponders over his words. _If the virus is transmitted orally, then it's deliberate._ _A virus given to us and us alone...but when? And where?_

 _That doesn't matter now_. Manami rushes into the hotel and to the kitchens, where she starts making a new batch of ice. She's sure the group at the hotel will find out.

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As the group manoeuvres the network of corridors, they experience no resistance. Karaumsa had instructed them to line themselves in loose pairs so that they could watch their respective sides for any dangers. Having felt embarrassed after Korosensei had butted in on her and Karma's conversation, Nagisa had gone ahead and paired up with Kaede. Karma, though, was right behind Kaede and her, having paired with Hayami

"It really is like we're just regular guests," Kimura whispers to Chiba, his partner.

"If anything, they avoid eye contact." Chiba answers. "No one wants to cause any trouble after all."

So far, all the guests the have passed had been alone, in pairs or in groups. Several, wear loud hawaiian shirts, some wear suits but all in all, their clothes make Nagisa question the tastes of rich people.

Occasionally, Kaede looks over her shoulder to shoot a triumphant look that Nagisa can't understand at Karma. Now, as she turns to the front, she smiles and speaks up, "I originally thought we'd have to take on everyone in the hotel, but it looks like we can just stroll up to the top floor!"

Nagisa too is guilty of glancing over her shoulder at Karma every so often. She can't help but wonder if he's mad at her for pairing with Kaede instead of him. Instead of looking mad, he gives her a little smirk each time she turns and then draws a circle in the air with his index finger, reminding her to look ahead while walking.

"And if something does happen," Okano says cheerily, "our point man, Karasuma-sensei is looking out for all of us!"

It almost sounds like their jinxing it. Worried, Nagisa peers over her shoulder at Karma, who gives her another smirk and a spin of his finger. She flashes him a smile back and faces the front.

The group enters the central hall, which is a large room that connects three corridors. The room has furniture in the corners for people to relax in, a chandelier to show their wealth, and a myriad of paintings in the room for guests to stare at.

Approaching from the hallway opposite is a man in a yellow flower print shirt that is less weird than some of the other guests. However, the turtleneck under the shirt and the hat indoors makes him look just as strange and makes up for the fairly tame shirt. Nagisa is certain that the hotel puts a curse on its guests so that they have no taste in clothing...not that that's possible...

"It'll be a cinch now that we're inside!" Terasaka gloats as they cross the central hall.

"Stay alert," Karasuma warns, but his sten voice does the opposite of calming Terasaka.

"We don't have enough time to play around," Terasaka darts forward, past Karasuma, and Yoshida follows him, "let's do this!"

They dash towards the the guest.

"Tersaka-kun! Watch out!" Fuwa yells suddenly, startling all. Terasaka and Yoshida glance behind and in that second, the guest lifts his turtleneck collar out and has whipped a strange cylindrical thing out of his pocket. In that same moment, Karasuma has dashed forward and shoved both Terasaka and Yoshida behind him. However, this means that the man fires a thick cloud of purple gas right into the face of Karasuma.

There's the sound like something hitting against something else.

"Karasuma-sensei!" Kaede shrieks. In a flash, their class has flanked out. Nagisa has barely moved when Karma is in front of her, one arm out to keep her behind him.

Karasuma leaps backwards out of the cloud of purple gas.

The gas slowly dissipates, revealing the guest (who must be an assassin) staring at Fuwa. His eyes are narrowed as he speaks, his voice low. "How could you tell? I kill in passing without the slightest bit of bloodlust," _that's true...I didn't notice a thing,_ Nagisa swallows nervously as the gas assassin lets the turtleneck collar drop, smiling warmly at them. Like that, he looks like a kindly middle aged man. All his bloodlust is gone. "That happens to be my speciality, Helmet Hair."

"Aren't you the man who gave us our welcome drinks?" Fuwa demands, stepping forward. She doesn't seem to have the slightest fear of the gas assassin.

 _Now that she mentions it..._

"Fuwa-san..." Nagisa murmurs, impressed.

"It's downright sketchy for someone like that to be walking around in here!" Fuwa continues.

"She's right," Isogai gasps.

"Heh. You've got a sharp eye," the gas assassin praises.

"Then was it you who gave everyone that virus?" Kaede demands.

"That's a pretty flimsy accusation," chuckling warmly, as if they're having a chat over afternoon tea, the gas assassin lifts his hands as if to show that he has nothing to hide, "there would have been plenty of other opportunities to slip you that stuff."

Kaede visibly sags, realising that he's right. However, before she can lose too much confidence, Fuwa starts snickering.

All eyes turn to her, except Karasuma, who faces the gas assassin whilst in a aggressive position.

"The only time we all ate or drank the same thing was with those drinks and our shipboard dinner," Fuwa begins to pace, wagging her finger in the air, "but Mimura-kun and Okajima worked on the video right through dinner, and they're both sick, which narrows it down to those daytime drinks. And that means..." She pauses, posing with her index finger resting against her forehead. Then she whirls around, jabbing a finger at the gas assassin. "The culprit is _you_ , mister!"

The action looks familiar.

At any rate, the gas assassin actually takes a step back, shocked.

"That's amazing, Fuwa-san!" Nagisa exclaims, moving away from Karma and joining their peers in fawning over Fuwa.

"You were just like a real detective!" Kaede chirps.

"When you read a lot of shounen manga like I do, you learn to adjust quickly to unusual situations," turning away from them with her eyes sparkling, Fuwa seems to slip off into her own world, " _Magazine and Sunday_ are chock-full of detective hits!"

Nagisa moves back to where Karma is, but she stands next to him instead of behind. As she joins him, it occurs to Nagisa a moment later that Fuwa's dramatic action was identical to the action of one of those characters from one of Karma's games. The...lawyer one. Yeah.

Actually, come to think of it, why was the gas assassin chatting with them so freely? Why was he _letting_ them chat so freely? Shouldn't he be running off to report to his boss or something?

Just then, Karasuma sensei falls forward, onto his knees. He nearly face plants, but uses his hands to catch himself, visibly struggling to hold himself up. The gas assassin promptly chuckles. "I guess even if you've found me out, it's already too late."

"A poisoner, eh?" Korosensei observes. "And quite skilled in practical use."

"My very own paralysis gas for indoor use," speaking like he's advertising a product, the gas assassin - er, poisoner - smiles broadly from ear to ear, "one whiff can bring down an elephant. Fresh air neutralises it, leaving no evidence behind. Now, it's plain to see you have no intention of honoring our arrangement," the poisoner starts to turn, "Negotiations have broken down. I guess I'll have to tell my boss."

 _Like we'll let you_.

The poisoner turns to the hallway he had come from and is greeted by the sight of Chiba, Isogai, Kataoka and Tersaka there. The latter three are in attacking stances while Chiba carries a large axe, presumably obtained from the hotel wall. They form a human wall, and an aggressive one.

The poisoner immediately turns, but Fuwa, Kaede, Nagisa, Karma and Hayami block the corridor opposite. When he whirls around to face the last corridor, Yada, Okano, Kimura, Sugaya and Yoshida form yet another wall. Yoshida carries an axe identical to Chiba's.

"When encountering an enemy..." in a low, guarded voice that's a far cry from his usual warm one, Isogai glares at the poisoner.

"...immediately block all their exits..." Kataoka uses a more aggressive tone than Isogai, but glares all the same.

"...and cut off all communications!" Tersaka finishes.

"Isn't that right, Karasuma-sensei?" Isogai asks.

"He's got a few of those gas canisters," Nagisa whispers under her breath, not sure how she's so sure.

"Seriously?" Kaede hisses in irritation.

"Karasuma-sensei knows," Karma reassures her.

"The minute you saw us," speaking as though he's forcing the words out, Karasuma rises from the floor like a zombie, "you should've held off attacking and gone back to tell your boss."

Turning around, the poisoner reveals a cornered look on his face as he lifts his turtleneck collar. "I'm surprised you can still talk. But all you have left is a bunch of kids! Once you're dead, they'll stop following orders and just run away!" At his last word, the poisoner whips out his next gas canister but his speech has given Karasuma time to gather himself.

In the same time it has taken for the poisoner to point the canister at him, Karasuma has kicked him square in the jaw. He falls backwards, clearly knocked out, but that's not important. That's not important at all.

What's important is how their 'one point man', Karasuma, falls to the ground.

"Karasuma-sensei!"

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"Over at the corner...yes, there. If we chuck him half under the couch it'll be harder for him to get out when he wakes up," Sugaya calls instructions as he helps Yada, Kataoka and Karma move the poisoner, now wrapped up in ropes, across the floor. "Then put the table over him...Karma, what are you doing?"

"Nothing," Karma moves away from the poisoner.

"That so," Sugaya gives Karma a suspicious look before turning away, "anyway, put it over him so if he wakes up and jerks up he'll knock himself out," continuing to give instructions, Sugaya watches Terasaka and Yoshida as they set a heavy table over the poisoner.

"You can't keep going like this, Karasuma-sensei," Isogai chides as he helps Karasuma walk.

"I'll be fine in half an hour," his legs spasm as he moves, but their teacher had refused to hear of anything except continuing their mission, "don't do anything crazy."

On hearing those words, Nagisa's eye twitches.

 _Don't do anything crazy, says the man who just faced a gas assassin one on one while being partially paralysed._

"He's the crazy one," Sugaya mentions in a low voice, echoing Nagisa's thoughts, "that gas was supposed to stop an elephant in its tracks!"

"Karasuma-sensei's kind of a monster himself," Okano agrees.

The group continue down the hallways, now in a loose clump. Karasuma and Isogai are at their centre, closest to the wall. As Nagisa walks behind them, next to Karma, she can't help but fret. Karasuma, the most proficient of all of them, had been taken down. Half taken down.

 _A pro with both experience and know-how is really something_...she think of the way the poisoner had whipped out the gas canister. _And that's the kind of pro waiting for us up ahead. Can we beat him with our power alone?_

"Man," breaking into her thoughts with a bright voice, Korosensei beams at the group, a sun motif shining on his face, "it sure is starting to feel like summer vacation, am I right?"

 _Excuse me?_

Nagisa sees her peers all freeze, even Karasuma and Isogai, and glare at the round thing hanging off her wrist.

Then, the group (except Isogai) all surround her, pointing accusingly at Korosensei and shouting.

"Well, aren't you happy-go-lucky!" Kataoka yells, clearly livid.

"Says the only one who's absolutely safe!" Kimura bellows.

"Nagisa, spin him around until he's sick!" Enraged, Sugaya makes his demand loudly.

Silently thinking that Korosensei deserves it, Nagisa begins to spin the bag around. She picks up speed and it goes whizzing through the air like it's a fan.

Karma grabs her wrist a moment later to stop her.

"Okay, Terasaka," still holding Nagisa's wrist, he points at Terasaka with his other hand, "I'm jamming him in. Drop the pants and spread those cheeks!"

 _Uh,_ Karma?

"That'll kill me!" Terasaka explodes.

Nagisa takes pity on Terasaka and lifts Korosensei up to eye level. "Korosensei, why does _this_ feel like summer?"

Korosensei takes a moment to recover before he answers. "The teacher-student relationship isn't a cozy one. Summer vacation fosters student independence in places beyond a teacher's protection," smiling warmly, Korosensei resumes his explanation, "if you apply the lessons you've learned in your usual gym classes, there will be few enemies for you to fear. This is you assassination vacation...and you can beat it."

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"Start with a seafood stock," a bowl of ramen sits on a coffee table, "add plenty of spring onions and a spoon of minced garlic..." the mentioned ingredients are added, "and...a gun!"

At the last word, the barrel of a gun is mashed into the bowl.

"Gotta love a souped up gun!" The man sitting behind the bowl of ramen has spiked up hair and happily places the barrel of the gun into his mouth, licking it all over. His fingers hold the revolver with a practiced ease, index finger curled around the trigger of the gun. "And when the soup trickles through the rifling...that's good eatin'!"

Chuckling, the monster in the same room answers him. "Well, it makes my blood run cold. That gun's loaded, right?"

"Don't worry, I'll be careful," the spiky haired man removes the gun from his mouth, soup dribbling down his chin. Ramming it back into the bowl of ramen, he uses the barrel of the revolver to stir the soup, "and it'll be just fine when it comes to shootin' too. I tend to it every night like it's my very own baby boy." He puts it back into his mouth. "The most delicious gun on any given day is the one that suits me the best. It's kinda like my rule of thumb."

"You're a weird one, all right," the monster replies, eagerly watching the screens in front of him, "are you two buddies the same way?"

"Yeah, well, when you've pulled off as many jobs as we have, you tend to develop your own little obsessions," the spiky haired man stirs the ramen with his gun again, aimlessly trying to pick up spring onions, "for example, Smog makes his own poisons. He's so insistent on fine tuning them for use that he even made his own lab."

"Huh." Sounding disinterested, the monster considers a moment. "And the third? What about Grip?"

"Well..." the spiky haired man goes silent. "Even as assassins go-eth, that one's an odd duck."

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The fifth floor spots a corridor where one side is just thick glass. A scenic walkway...but sneak attacks or ambushes are impossible unless one is Korosensei. As Nagisa sneaks along the opposite wall (which has trees lining it every ten metres), she can't help but think how brittle glass is.

And how high up they are.

At the front of the group, Terasaka stops, causing the line of students creeping along the wall furthest from the window to stop too.

Nagisa peers over Karma's shoulder, wondering what happened.

In the corridor in front of them, a foreigner leans against the thick glass window. He's dressed completely in black, but wears nothing to cover his face, exposing blonde hair and empty blue eyes.

"What's he doing standing out there in the open?" Sugaya murmurs, right behind Terasaka.

"That vibe he's giving off..." Yada whispers, sounding tense.

"Assassin?" Nagisa mutters in answer, mostly asking Karma.

"Assassin," Karma confirms.

"Yep, he's definitely a killer," Yoshida agrees, but doesn't take his eyes off the man.

Suddenly, the foreigner shatters the glass he's leaning against with his hands.

"What a drag-eth," the foreigner announces, his voice low and gravely. "I can tell-eth from your footstep that you're not tough enough for me. And they said some special-forces teacher was tak-eth-ing the lead too."

 _He cracked the window with his bare hand!_

"I guess Smog's gas must've gotten-eth the better of him," the foreigner turns to look at them, then lifts a finger and points. "Probably killed-eth each other at the same time."

Despite the cracked window, the foreigner's disarming glare and words, all Nagisa can focus on it one thing:

The 'eth'.

She's fairly sure all her classmates are thinking the same thing, but all seem too frightened to voice a word. There's a lot of staring at the foreigner, and probably not for the reason they _should_ be staring at him.

"You sure like adding 'eth' to things, old man!" Karma voices brightly.

Everyone's jaws drop, both astounded at his daring and relieved that he had voiced their thoughts. Nagisa, who stands next to Karma, feels slightly alarmed at the attention on her but also simultaneously relieved. What's all the '-eth'? Was this some new dialect she had never heard?

The foreigner chuckles. "I heard it had a cool, old-fashioned sound to it, like-eth a samurai. It's got a cool ring to it, so I'm try-eth-ing it out."

Nagisa isn't sure how to react, but she's glad that none of her elementary school classmates had tried to humiliate her by telling her to add 'eth' to her words or by some similar manner. The man has been tricked-eth.

"I might-eth be doing it wrong," the man takes a step away from the window, flexing his hands and cracking his finger joints (Nagisa silently wishes to learn how he does that without touching his knuckles), "but that's okay. After I kill you all here, I can drop-eth the 'eth' and no one will ever know."

"Barehands..." Korosensei speaks up from Nagisa's hands. Nagisa regrets offering to carry their teacher; he keeps calling unnecessary attention to her. "Are those your killing tools, then?"

"My skills are actually in quite high demand, you know-eth," the foreigner cracks his fingers in front of them before putting his hands down, "passing through airport security is quite the advantage, after all-eth," his hands reach out, demonstrating his next few words, "when my prey draws near, I snap-eth their necks. Or if the fancy stikes me, I crush-eth their skulls."

Randomly, Nagisa notices a pearl necklace he has on. At a very inopportune time, she realises that this foreigner would look great as a woman; just look at his wavy blonde hair. All he needs is a nice dress and some makeup. This information only seems to make the foreigner scarier, somehow. Like he could crossdress and waltz into a hotel like Irina.

"It's funny, you know-eth. The more you train-eth your strength for the purpose of killing people, the more you feel-eth like using it for something other than assassination," the foreigner returns his hands to his pockets, the equivalent (for him) of sheathing a sword, "to be-eth precise, a fight to the death against-eth a mighty foe." He sweeps his blue eyes over their party. "But this is quite the let down-eth. After seeing who I'm up against," he focuses on Karasuma, who is supported by Isogai, "I've all but lost-eth my will to fight." He rummaged through his pockets. "Not to mention, it's a pain to mop-eth up a bunch of small fry by myself. I'll call my boss and my colleague to help-eth out." He produces a walkie-talkie.

The whole group tenses, Nagisa included. She wants to knock the walkie-talkie out of his hand, but if she does, she'll be dead in a second. Her classmates have likely come to the same conclusion, all nervously eying the communication device. If only she had some chili power or something...

Then Karma's suddenly gone from her side and there's the sound of something smashing against the glass.

Nagisa's eyes widen as she sees Karma holding one of the small potted trees lined up in the hallway by its braided woody stem, having swung the stone pot of the tree against the walkie-talkie in the man's hand against the glass window. The pot slowly falls away to reveal the crushed walkie talkie, embedded in the glass.

"Hey, old man, chill-eth," Karma taunts, "you seem pretty average for a pro, huh? Breaking glass, busting skulls? I can do that much."

 _Karma, what?_ Nagisa promptly gets distracted. _Who's skull have you been busting? What skulls have you been busting?_

"But if your opening move is to call in reinforcements, I guess that means you're too scared to take on a junior-high kid alone." He's clearly mocking the foreigner, but instead of looking down on him, Karma is looking at him head on. Nagisa feels a burst of pride in her chest for Karma.

"No!" Karasuma's words bursts out filled with worry. "Don't be reck-"

"Stop right there, Karasuma-sensei," Korosensei interrupts. "His chin is down."

Nagisa looks at Korosensei in surprise. Her gaze softens. So he had noticed too.

"So far, he's been showing off his swagger with his chin in the air, looking down on his opponents," Korosensei continues his analysis and Nagisa's never been happier that he's their teacher, "but this is different. His words may be as rough as ever, but his eyes are looking straight ahead, alertly observing his foe head-on. He's been lying low ever since finals, but it seems he's learned well from his failures."

 _So that's why..._ Nagisa thinks of how oddly quiet Karma had been. She presses her lips together. _I can't believe I didn't make the connection..._

"Very well-eth," the foreigner lets out a small chortle before getting serious, "let's see what you can do-eth." He slips off his coat and flexes his fingers.

"Give this all you've got," Korosensei speaks gravely, "you're facing one high wall: an adult!"

That gives Nagisa all the courage she needs.

"Don't lose, Karma!"

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 **Just what was Karma and Kaede fighting over? Ufufufufufu**

 **Nagisa. It was the best friend vs boyfriend face off!**

 **Random #1: After replying to the reviews, I went to find Karma with earrings and oh god. He looks so cool. I died and went to heaven...or so I thought because the picture was actually Akashi but reposted as Karma *quiet sigh*. I'll put the link down anyway. Why am I doing this? I don't know. Is it Karma? It sure as hell can be. Am I tempted to write in him with earrings? Hell yeah.**

 **www . pinterest pin/464644886535362861/**

 **Remove the spaces, add the dot com and the / in front of 'pin' and you've got it. I'll remove it after I update the next chapter**

 **Random #2: My sister just killed a bug and promptly dusted her hands and spread bug guts all over *loud sigh***

 **Review replies (There's a lot to go through...more than a year's worth):**

 **Arranged alphabetcally.**

 **To 13atkinsk:** _I love fem!Karma stories too! I'll look into it. Thank you XD_

 _Chapter 1: Everyone really does seem to like fem!Karma. Looks like I'll have to put more of her haha._

 **To animecutylover:** _Chapter 1: Ships everywhere ufufufu. Come to the Karmagisa ship! I have shortcake!_

 _Chapter 2: XD_

 _Chapter 3: Exactly! I would have been so happy!_

 _Chapter 4: Speaking of pickup lines, my friends recently exploded our chat group with pick up lines haha. Some were really bad so I may do another chapter just to feature those._

 _Chapter 5: Yep, Karma's parents are hilarious._

 _Chapter 6: *Happily melting*_

 _Chapter 7: Let's put it this way: they're weirdly dense yet oddly specific._

 _Chapter 8: "Duh. Since I'm dating her, she's obviously the top on my list for liking in romantic terms." Ufufufufu._

 _Chapter 9: :3_

 _Chapter 10: You bet she did *maniacal giggling*_

 _Chapter 11: Muahahahahahaahahaha_

 **To :** _Thank you for the compliment! I apologise for the long time taken between updates :( I hope you're still reading this! Also, your username...same..._

 **To Atlasnix:** _I updated!_ _Thank you very much!_

 _Chapter 19: Hu hu hu hu, you guessed the movie XD Peter Parker fan right here *arms all the way up* though I'm not a marvel fan (sorry if you are). I'm so glad you read it hu hu hu._

 **To Blue AuRa Akage:** _Thank you for loving it! I hope you like the updates!_

 **To BorderLand:** _Chapter 5: Snake eyes is the perfect assassin name for Nagisa omg wait no brain that's a bad idea...By the way, where's border land or is that just a username?_

 _Chapter 6: Hue hue hue thank you_

 _Chapter 7: I want one too, but so far my teachers have not delivered and my lazy ass is too lazy to make one._

 _Chapter 8: I aspire to be on Karma's level of bombshells and audacious statements._

 _Chapter 10: Haha, I should rename this story to 'all my ships coming together'_

 **To celestial-dragneel13:** _Thank you! I love writing things especially when you all review and thank you very much for those compliments._

 **To Celine The Sleeping Beauty:** _Longer chapter deliver *salutes* oops, I'm sorry for being so unreliable. Aww, I'm so fluttery hearing that you reread it oh my gosh *fluttering away* thank you for reading and see you soon! Also, haha, hi sleeping beauty, I'm sleeping ugly. Nice to meet you. Just kidding XD_

 **To cherryblossom321:** _Haha...sorry for the long wait. Thank you so much! Come to think of it, I'm reaching the end of season 1 :O omg_

 _Chapter 19: I'm really glad my chapter made you feel better. I hope you're doing well. Bad days really suck :/ Thank you so much! I think I did not bad! Thank you for continuing to read this *bows*_

 **To Chise Yukki:** _I almost gave away a spoiler! You'll have to be on your toes, but don't worry. Karma's always looking out for Nagisa even when she isn't looking out for herself._

 **To Ciela Fllbuster16:** _I am always in fangirl mode, I'm glad you're joining me today._

 **To drmonicblood** _: Meep, I'm glad you liked it! I always thought it was better in the long run to be rejected firmly, hence Nagisa. Don't worry, Kaede will be helping our little Shuu-chan. Also, that is true. I think it would certainly be harder on Nagisa, especially with what his mother puts him through...but all the same, I think that having someone who cares about him deeply and unselfishly would also be good in the long run. I hope you're still reading this! :)_

 **To DemonKira6:** _Same, haha XD I'm glad you're so pumped ufufufu._

 **To elisa ivy:** _Oh, I'm very sorry :( I hoped you like this anyway._

 **To FlameDragonHime:** _Thank you so much! Sorry, I don't have any :/_

 **To foxchick1:** _Korosensei represents my half single butt :P Thank you for the review X3_

 _Chapter 19: Hee hee, hope you liked the gas assassin/poisoner/smog and the foreigner/grip (was tempted to name him the fist assassin or grip ripper or knuckle knocker) Thank you so much, I think I did pretty good on them._

 **To FoxWithTwoTails:** _(do you mean tails from sonic?) Sorry, I got severly uh well yeah. As you can see, this is more than a year later. I hope you're still reading this! I'm really sorry about the late update!_

 **To Frwt** : _Thanks!_

 _Chapter 19: Is...is that a good thing? Also, I'm back ^^ Hopefully for a while too!_

 **To girl-who-cried-death:** _I'm glad you liked it! Thank you so much for reading it!_

 **To Glasses Writer:** _D-Don't cry! They'll be okay! Probably..._

 **To Guest (the one on chapter 4 #1):** _I...I'm sorry...this useless author loves fluff. But I'm glad you liked it ^^ thank you_

 **To Guest (the one on chapter 13):** _Oh do I ever love them. That one will be continued...soon._

 **To Guest (the one on cchapter 8):** _Oh, I empathise so much, I do that often. Laughing I mean. My mom's so used to it she just goes, "anime, fanfiction, or book?" at this point. My poor mom. I apologise for the wide gaps between the chapters, but please continue reading this._

 **To Guest (the one on chapter 4 #2):** _Refrigerator! HAHA IF I EVER HAVE TO WRITE HAIKU'S IN THE FUTURE I'M PUTTING THAT IN FOR THE LAST LINE_

 **To Guest (the one on chapter 19 #1):** _I'm glad you liked it! Karma and Nagisa have not exactly had the best of first meetings._

 **To Guest (the one on Chapter 19 #2):** _I hoped you liked the last chapter haha! I'm glad to be the first to make it that far though. You bet that Karma's reaction is going to be amazing. In various ways. Thank you so much, I actually think I did not bad!_

 **To Guest (the one on chapter 20):** _Thanks so much :3 Dialouge is inside_

 **To hOI I'M TEMMIE:** _HoI I'm *****! XD I like the idea too, but I'm too lazy to it haha_

 **To I see you see:** _Thank you very much. Being told that makes me all fuzzy inside. I hope you continue to read this! I don't think I'll do a reversed constitute reality though haha_

 **To Jadegem02:** _I'm glad you like it. They're heading for the island, they're on the island now so stay tuned muahahahahaha. I used to update a lot I feel like that me was a very different person wow._

 _Chapter 19: I'm glad that you're still following and sorry for the long wait I'm actually quite happy with how my exams went, aside from my english one in which I had a lapse of judgement. Thank you for your understanding._

 **To J.C:** _Hi J.C. I have returned too, sorry for taking so long. I'm doing well now, relaxing now that my major exams are over (hoping they'll go well). Aww man, I was close? I'll have to go back and check :/ Wait, I'm going to throw out some 'C's first. Christopher. Christine. Conrad. Coleen. Cathy. Catherine. Idk why they're all girl names. Castiel. Cat. I don't know. Caasy. Casey. Idk. Crispy. Wait no._

 **To Kam:** _Thanks!_

 **To kate:** _Thank you so much haha and yes your french is excused_ mon petite

 **To KarmagisaAllTheWay:** _Ayeeeee! Nice username hahaha. I love their family dynamic too. Especially Mrs Akabane._

 **To KARMAS LITTLE MISS DEVIL:** _I'm so sorry the next chapter took so long to come out! I hope you read it X( *flailing arms*_ **  
**

 **To KaZenwerockz:** _The one and only. Meep, I really messed up the way I represented Nagisa's mother *beats self up* I'm really going to have to redo the previous chapters!_

 **To kuroneko nnch:** _Okay, thank you for considering it so much UwU. Thank you for reading the new chapters hee hee XD Look forward to the next one!_

 **To KyraThanos:** _Take care of your body, kids! Learn from Karma! Nagisa has a part-time job worrying sometimes. I should free her from it...yeah no. Bakarma...I'm using that, if you don't mind :3 Wheee, we should have Nagisa having a party! Oh, new extra idea! Shuu-chan didn't notice quite how much he liked Nagisa :( I felt sorry for him too while I was writing that too, but I felt it was necessary. It's my own opinion that it's better to be firmly rejected so you can move on...but sorry Shuu-chan! I'm going to be nice to him next time. Yep, Kaede is definitely going to be super good friends with Shuu-chan, but it's up to my sister if they become more intimate or not. Tsugumi_ does _have dyslexia! I'm amazed you noticed haha, it's something I'll mention more later. You're observant, wow! Yep, Karma has a stalk-*bursts out laughing* it's just the sort of careless thing I thought he'd say XD I...I absolutely love the idea of Karma with piercings. Oh my god. Why do I not have an artistic friend? Google...I need an image of Karma with earrings! *deep breathing*_ oh my god...

 _Anyway, I'm so sorry I was gone for so long! I hope you're still reading this!_

 **To laFia:** _Man, everyone likes the female!Karma part haha. I'll look into writing more. Thank you for reading; I hope you still are!_

 **To LittleWeirdPerson** _: High five! Our usernames kinda match! Kinda. Thank you for being so understanding haha! Christmas hasn't swung around yet, but no one's told the malls that. They've been blasting Christmas Carols since November started. (BUT AS LONG AS YOU LOVE ME SOOOOO LET IT SNOW LET IT SNOW LET IT SNOW). Merry Christmas._

 **To LumiereDelacour:** _Fleur Delacour hahahahaha ha ha...she's boss tho._ _Is that so? I think I'm become lazy so I'll just italicise it in the future, but thank you very much. Come to think of it, that is a better way to put it...problem is that it's hard to put accents with the computer._

 **To Marshmallow:** _I should start calling you sempai. Just kidding. Oh man, was I_ that _obvious? Everyone really likes girl Karma, it's amazing. Sorry girl Nagisa, you're losing in popularity...in a way, he was overconfident. He tried too hard because he wanted to show off and bam. Korosensei's weakness #1. Well...I live along the equator, so we don't really discuss the weather of the other hemispheres other than to be jealous of their snow and pretty leaves. Meep. Don't anyhow leave your instagram around, though I'd certainly follow you. Sadly, I'm also an introvert and my instagram page is severely lacking in anything._

 _Chapter 19: Hi hi hi! I'm back! I think the both of us are pretty happy that your expectations were wrong. I am alive, and I am well. Haha, I'm glad it made your day OwO Am I that obvious about the Kaede thing? *touches face* oh gosh, my sister was right. As for using Karma's wealth... *eyes drift to the side* uhuhuhu. I don't think that I can have a fun time studying...though I won't have to worry about that for a while! I get my results back in January, so I'm equal parts dreading and excited about it. Okay, next time I go mia, I'll leave a message *makes fists with hands*_

 _Chapter 19 2: The guest reviews I think take time to be uploaded? Thank you for taking the time to type out another review though, that makes me feel happy. I hope you're still diligently checking the category haha. You bet Korosensei's going to be a worried mother, going,_ ah! Don't drink don't smoke don't look at those people, don't touch the bad stuff! _And fretting over all of them...and yep, Karma's gonna be hella there._

 **To matronium:** _I guess I like them long too, I like slipping things between the dialogues though that means its a little difficult to write. Thanks for reading *bows*_

 **To MayHanaMya:** _I don't really actively ship them but I do like the idea of them together :) (evil smiley) Yeah, poor Shuu-chan's had quite a few set backs :( Poor thing. Says me. I definitely like a female Karma, so I'm sorely tempted to put in more fem!Karma scenes. I hope you're still reading this ^^_

 **To MiyokoMiru:** _Chapter 2: I am continuing, hope you read the latest updates!_

 _Chapter 5: yep, she's amazing_

 _Chapter 18: I hope you enjoyed the updates!_

 _Chapter 20: was this soon enough UwU_

 **To MonkeyQueen88 YT:** _Omg, omg! Really! Wow! I...am so sorry this unreliable story was your first ;-; I'm certainly considering more fem!Karma stories *strokes imaginary beard* she's so popular, more than fem!Nagisa it seems._

 **To MylaUchiha:** _A lot of people seem to like fem!Karma, haha! She's very popular *googles up art* Omg, Nagisa is like a mom in that bit :O_

 **To narcissus31st:** _Another CLAMP fan wheeeee HI COMRADE AH I SEE YOU LOVE MY FAVOURITES TOO COMRADE HI!_ _I'm so glad you liked that chapter and all the others. Thank you so much for reading this and I hope you still are!_

 **To NightLight:** _I'm glad I made you laugh XD_

 **To Reaper2908:** _It was! I was so shokt when I fuond out too! Arghhh, I'd have lost my soul to it even more if it was canon *loud squaling*_

 **To Respect930:** _Thank you so much heee hee. It makes me really happy when I hear that. This chapter was long (also because of the review replies) so I hope you like that ^^._

 **To Revelery:** _I like your name. Also, I also can't wait for the car scene ufufufufu. The civil war was planned out a long time ago but I actually lost the paper where I wrote it so it's really just vague now. I'm so annoyed with myself._

 _Chapter 20: Okay, noted! This one was long and very detailed (hopefully not overwhelmingly so), hope it was enjoyable XD Are they quite distant? I think they're not very good at being intense (especially Nagisa) and they're both the type to rely on themselves. But your request for fluff is very much noted. This person also very much wants to read Karmagisa fluff that will rot my teeth, so I'll work on it._

 **To RinnTachibana:** _I certainly remember you :P After all, Rin is cute! I don't really know if I see Kaede and Gakushuu together, but I certainly like the idea which is. Sadly, it's the island arc and I can't put in as much jealousy yet. Yet. Yet. i admit, it is sorely tempting to slap a skirt on Karma. I'll leave it at that muah ha ha ha ha. Karma did have 'delinquent' friends as his mom calls them *evil face* you'll have to wait to find out more ^^ Now, imagine watching a video of your baby self with the person you like, haha! Omg I'm actually so tempted...I feel like Nagisa would be very pouty when she's jealous. Also sorely tempted...is it bad if I still continue this even though the AC fandom is dying off? Well, I plan on continuing it anyway...congrats on graduating from KnB! My sis and I are burning up. We're always burning up, excpet in november and december, when we're getting drenched haha. Thank you very much. Sorry for the long wait on the chapters, and I hope you're still reading this._

 **To riseofthewolf:** _Thank you so much! Nagisa is adorable, isn't she? Gosh I sound conceited. Haha, another fem!Karma lover XD ANywAY, thank you very much fufufufu!_

 **To Ryan Mashall:** _Chapter 1: hee hee, thanks XD Yeah, I do write it a little close to canon later on..._

 _Chapter 5: Thanks XD_

 _Chapter 6: Yep, you bet Yada and Hara called it :3_

 _Chapter 9: They are, aren't they?_

 _Chapter 10: *giggling*_

 _Chapter 13: Karma is the sort of kid who knows what he wants, haha_

 _Chapter 14: Uhuhuhuhuhuhuhu_

 _Chapter 15.5: The incident is something in their backstory, which will be out...soon enough. Yeah._

 _Chapter 17: (I'm so sorry, Shuu-chan0_

 _Chapter 18: I don't exactly ship him with Kaede but I certainly like him with her._

 _Chapter 19: Hue hue hue hue...I do like Karmagisa. A bit too much, my sister would say. At any rate, all the students had the drinks but not all of them were affected. That's because people's bodies have different levels of resistance so some may have had very little and been affected or have had a lot and not been affected at all. Or maybe the toxin was diluted if they drank it only after all the ice had melted or so on. You can choose the option you like better. As for the former...random sort of related story but my aunt once brought out expired cheese and we didn't know it was expired. I had one mouth before my cousin discovered it then stopped while my sister had three, my cousin had three and my aunt had the rest. In the end, my cousin and I had diarrhoea while my aunt and sister were fine which was apparently due to either us eating different parts of the cheese or my sister and aunt having a higher resistance than my cousin and I so that's why I think the poison was similar._

 **To sakurhita:** _Gracias!_

 **To shadowmere388:** _That makes me so happy! I'm all fluttery inside XD THank you so much!_

 **To Shidake:** _It works it does :3 I'm glad you love the extras! I'm having fun writing them too and I hope you're still reading this!_

 **To Shion Lee:** _Ooo, I love the name Shion. *quiet laughter*. Yeah, Shuu-chan went through a lot. Good luck, Shuu-chan!"_

 **To Shiranai Atsune _:_** _Hello hello again XD Overwork is no good, kids, okay? Take care of your bodies! It's rather weird how they remember Nagisa, but she gives the impression of a very meek and docile girl, someone easy to overlook, to people she doesn't know well. Yep, eight tentacles na-na-na. Asano's_ very _fond of Nagisa. Everyone's very fond of Nagisa. I will do sequels...probably. I'm so sorry, but I cannot write against my Karmagisa ship :( Thank you for being here. Thank you so much for getting me started._

 _They watched *drumroll* dududdududdudududududududuududududuuuuuu! Avengers, Infinity war! As for your question..._

 _It's a secret~_

 _Yep, new question! What happens with them when Karma's parents aren't home? Nagisa keeps Karma in control. Bwahahahahaha. Sorry, but maybe I'll do it for next chapter! The first season hasn't ended yet but it will soon (wow, I'm feel old). The guest reviews sometimes take a while to show up._

 **To SkyGuardian22:** _Wheee, thank you very much! You'll have to wait and see ufufufu. I hope you're still reading this!_

 **To snowlikesstardust:** _Thanks so much XD I really appreciate the compliments!_

 **To SpellCheck:** _? *screaming* oh god I need a proofreader. Thanks!_

 **To Summerbirdy:** _I'm glad you liked it haha! I hope you liked this one too, swinging straight into the island arc (*stares at Karma* "You better beat Grip while looking cool and not worrying Nagisa too much!")_

 **To SunsetsN'Shadows:** _I'm glad to hear that! I'll work hard *makes fists*_

 **To TheJubilations:** _Wow, that's a lot of emails. My inbox always has 0 if I can help it. I hope you're still reading this, and I'm happy that you liked it!_ **  
**

 **To UmiNight Angle Neko:** _No, that's not wrong, but I'm afraid I'm not very good with doing yanderes. I'll have to let you down on that._

 **To Weaponv200** : Sorry for the long wait, hope you liked the update!

 **To XxMysticalLunarxX:** _I don't think Nagisa's his type...since he's a pervert. His type is probably someone big chested...oh wait maybe it's the exact opposite. What do you mean awkward positions...*eyes shining* actually, that sounds great. Let's have Bitch-sensei give them the birds and the bees talk and-oops calm down me. Thank you and I hope you're stll reading this._

 **To YugiKitten:** _(Chapter 15):_ _Imagine running into a bunch of people on the street, carrying a bed with a girl on it...I'd be so confused haha._

 _Chapter 15.5: Yeeeessss CLAMP *cue the loud squealing* my goddesses! *more squealing* I admit though, I probably wrote them in too much. Yes, I realise now that I lacked proper foresight when writing Hiromi. I think I may have to do some mass editing of the previous chapters...not looking forward to that. Thank you for the compliments XD_

 _Chapter 17: Thank you! You're very nice XD Kinda like a older sister_

 _Chapter 18:_ ヽ(͡◕ ͜ʖ ͡◕)ﾉ _Fem Karma has her own following at this point haha_

 **To Yuki237:** _Sorry about all the long time gaps! I'm very unrealiable!_

 **To zeetheempress** _: All hail! Because arguing couples are kinda cute *shiny eyes* I will do so!_

 **To zenneth:** _I'm still writing it, really sorry about the very long waits! I hope you've continued to read it._

 **To Zi Lan** **Na:** _Sorry for the long wait for the update :( I hope you enjoyed the chapters nonetheless!_

 **And to the extras:**

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 _Extras #1:_

 _Wilfred Byrne and Akabane Jeanette, Part the first_

 _The meeting, if it can so be called one_

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Eyebrows knitted together, Wilfred stared at the blue thing next to his feet doubtfully. Who on earth had left their wallet outside their house? He had nearly stepped on it while he had been walking by to return to his house. Bending down, he picked it up. On opening it and inspecting the cards, he saw that one of the cards had a number on it. He sighed, replaced the cards and kept the wallet open. Wilfred then wondered what he should do. He decided to just leave the wallet and call the owner and hence squatted down to set the wallet down

Or so he had been doing when something hit the side of his head with enough force to almost knock him over.

"Just what do you think you're doing?!" A loud voice boomed somewhere to his left, where the lifts were. "Get your hands away from Yuui's door!"

"What?" Wilfred asked dumbly as he massaged the side of his head. He glanced in confusion, his head swimming, over to the lift area, where he could barely make out two silhouettes. Blinking, Wilfred realised that he had been clinging to the doorknob in order to steady himself. The wallet had gone flying off somewhere.

"Stop leaving your creepy letters, you stalker!" The same voice announced angrily by his side. Wilfred barely managed to regain enough of his senses to understand that he had been caught in one _hell_ of a misunderstanding when the person, likely a girl from their voice, grabbed him and forcibly flipped him onto the ground with enough force that he saw stars again. The person then pinned his shoulders to the ground and forced his hands behind his back.

When Wilfred recovered, he decided that his best course of action was to throw the girl off. He attempted it promptly, but while the girl was not strong she was clever. She sensed what he was going to do and grazed her fingers against the pressure point that would knock him out.

"Don't you dare struggle, or I'll knock you out and turn you in to the police. Explain yourself!"

Wilfred wanted to kill her. Seriously.

Instead, he forced himself to calm down and speak rationally.

"You're the one that assaulted me. If I struggle, I do so in self defence."

He was definitely finding where this girl lived and leaving stink bombs in her mail.

"You who have been harrassing Yuui for _weeks_ can't say anything!"

"What? I only picked up a wallet that had been outside her door! What's this about harassing?"

"Nettie, let him go!" A second voice comes from somewhere behind Wilfred, sounding frantic. "He's not the stalker!"

"What?" The first voice sounded shocked. "Yuui, don't be careless."

"That's not him! That's one of my neighbours!" It took Wilfred a moment to place the second voice, then he realised that it was the girl who lived three doors down from him. The girl who lived in the house where he had found the wallet in front of. If he remembered correctly, she was a student. "Nettie, let him go. Come on."

"Fine."

The weight on his back vanished and Wilfred sat up. He blinked as a hand descended into his line of sight. A girl with voluminous blonde curls glared at him as she held out her hand to him.

He stared at her, then her hand.

"You aren't planning on more judo tricks, are you?" Will asked mildly, silently seething.

"How rude!" The blonde huffed. "That was just because I thought you were stalking Yuui. You were very suspicious, too."

Wilfred was never doing a good deed again. He was helped to his feet by the blonde and surveyed the two girls in front of him. Both, he found to his mild surprise, were blonde. The owner of the first voice had angular golden eyes and curly blonde hair. Her hair just about reached her elbows and was in a ponytail that she had draped over a shoulder. Rather than a _girl_ , she seemed to be a _woman_. She was even wearing a suit, seeming to have just returned from work or maybe job hunting. Wilfred estimated her age at maybe twenty five. The owner of the second voice was, as mentioned, a student. She had downturned blue eyes, more blue than anything Wilfred has seen, and fair hair that was almost white. It fell straight down and was long, reaching her waist. She was very beautiful, Wilfred thought, then glanced back at the woman.

"Could you explain why I shouldn't have you detained on the premises of assault?" He asked measuredly.

"I'm really sorry," the student spoke up immediately, looking worried. "It's really not Nettie's fault. It's just...she found out that someone had been leaving me notes at school and slipping them under my door too, so she was really worried. She saw you bending in front of my door and flipped. I'll take all responsibility!"

"Why don't you report it to the police?" Wilfred eyed the student doubtfully. She looked familiar...

Ah.

The Fluorite's had a young daughter who would be turning fifteen, if he remembered correctly. It would not do to make a enemy out of such a rich family, especially since he was planning on establishing himself in the upper class. Once he earned enough money and found investors and could start his own technology company, that is.

"Never mind. It is of no matter." Wilfred answered, lowering his gaze. "May I ask what exactly was in those letters?"

"Why do you want to know?" The woman asked, her brow raised.

"It can't be safe for two women to be searching for a stalker alone," Wilfred pointed out. "I thought I would lend a hand."

"There are two of us, so it's hardly 'alone'," the woman replied.

"Nettie, you're being rude," the student protested. She turned to Wilfred and bowed perfectly. Straightening, she moved her long hair over her shoulder. "I'm sorry about my friend's rude behaviour. As I've mentioned, she's just worried about me. I am Tsukahara Yuui." Must be a cover name. "And I am in my first year of high school."

Wilfred smiled. "I am Wilfred Byrne," he bowed, "and I'm a college student. It's a pleasure to meet you, Tsukahara-san."

"What's with the two of you introducing yourselves like you're at a mixer?" The woman interjected, her brows knitted.

"Nettie, where's _your_ introduction?" Nudging her friend, Tsukahara offered Wilfred an apologetic smile. She, he noted, really was pretty. It was no wonder her friend had been so overprotective.

The woman eyed Wilfred doubtfully for a moment, then sighed. She pushed her ponytail over her shoulder the same way Tsukara had and grudgingly introduced herself. "I'm Jeanette Doyle. I apologise for being rough with you earlier." She looked genuinely contrite and Wilfred blinked. He decided to forgive her.

"But you're a guy you know," she pointed out, "And I'm a girl who's younger than you so you falling victim to me is something like, what...? Are you that weak."

Never mind. Stink bombs in her letterbox weren't enough. How about throwing them into her house?

"You caught me by surprise," without showing his annoyance, Wilfred smiled as kindly as he could to the pair of females. Come to think of it, what had Doyle thrown at him?

"Sure," Doyle let out a puff of laughter, "By the way, just call me Jeanette."

Wilfred arched a brow, but nodded. "I see."

"Oh, that's right," Doyle, no, Jeanette, gasped and Wilfred just then realised that she was only wearing one high heel. Her other foot was bare. She hobbled past him and retrieved her vivid red heel. As she was slipping it on, she took Wilfred in. "You're an european? Your hair is really red."

"I could say the same for the pair of you," sweeping his eyes over the pair of blonde, Wilfred offered them an awkward smile, "I guess none of us are natives."

"Yeah. Anyway, Yuui, you said that he was a neighbour? Which unit?" Jeanette was further down the corridor now, the blue wallet in her hand. She was easily distracted, Wilfred thought with a sigh.

"The one three doors down," Tsukahara, Wilfred noticed, was making weird expressions with her face.

"Oh, the one which always has girls and guys going in and out of his house?"

Wilfred froze and Tsukahara visibly wilted.

"What?" Wilfred asked. "That's-"

"Just things I've seen," Jeanette smiled sweetly at Wilfred, then unlocked the door of the apartment they had been standing in front of. "Though really, it's a pleasure to meet you. While you're...beyond kind for your offer of assistance, I'm afraid that we must decline." She promptly ushered Tsukahara in with a lot of hand movements, ignoring the younger girl's protests. "After all, neighbour or no, there's a very real possibility that you become infatuated with Yuui - don't think I haven't noticed you smiling away and paying so much attention to her, pervert - and I really can't have that. She's pretty much taken." Jeanette had somehow entered the house herself and had her head sticking out as she spoke to him. "And you could _still be_ _the stalker_. You being her neighbour has no bearing on it, _Wilfred Byrne,"_ she said his name slowly and carefully, enunciating every syllable in it, "I suppose I'll be seeing you around."

The door slammed shut in his stunned face.

Did she just accuse him of flirting with and stalking a student? And threaten him?

"Oi!" Wilfred yelled, livid. "Why would I stalk that person? What is _wrong_ with you?!"

A voice came through the door. "I've seen _middle school_ girls and boys go into your house, pedo. Go away or I'll call the police."

"Those are my," he searched for a word to describe them. Really, he had grown up in an orphanage and had many 'siblings' from there. He had left once he had entered college and bought his own flat. upon hearing about his flat, many of his 'siblings' had happily invited themselves to his house as he pleased. How on earth did he word that?

"Save it." Jeanette announced coldly. "If I'm wrong, I'm really sorry, but I cannot run the risk of having someone so sketchy near Yuui. I'd sooner pop my eyeballs out and present them to you for consumption. I really apologise for my accusations if they are wrong, but kindly leave.

"What are you, her mom?" Wilfred found himself yell.

When he received no reply, he angrily stomped back to his apartment. It took him four tries to fit his key into the lock. When he opened the door, of _course_ , one of his 'brothers' was there. He didn't remember much except cooking dinner for the five or so 'siblings' who had popped by and leaving them and their drinking party alone in his living room as he flung himself into bed. He was simply livid. What was _wrong_ with that woman? She spat out so many useless and stupid accusations. She was _sorry_ if they were wrong? What the hell was wrong with her?!

Seething just like that, he fell asleep.

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"Oh me, oh my...is our little Nettle sulking?" Yuui beamed as she propped her chin in her palm. The mischievous light in her eyes seemed at odds with the demure, meek girl who had run into Wilfred before. Her voice, too, was far lower and a bit husky, sounding like a boy's.

"Shut up, Yun," Jeanette replied crossly, using her chopsticks to take the various dishes that Yuui had made. Fried chicken karaage, omelets, stir fried vegetables, sliced cucumbers, bobbling tofu, mini hamburgers, octopus sausages, eggplant, potato salad...

A less practiced person would have struggled to pick up certain dishes (such as the slippery tofu and mushy potato salad) but in her state of depression, Jeanette had suddenly mastered the art of using chopsticks. The dishes all made their way onto her plate and she ate them with her rice, barely tasting them.

"It's a waste of my cooking if you don't taste it, Nettie," Yuui hummed. In one swift motion, she had stolen Jeanette's bowl and was laughing and dancing away. "If you're going to waste my food, I guess I'll just confiscate it~"

"Oi, Yun!" Jeanette protested.

Ignoring her, Yuui casually ate from Jeanette's bowl.

"Yum!" She grinned at Jeanette.

"Give me my food back!"

The pair grappled, Yuui leaving the bowl safely on the table, and Jeanette was overpowered. The blue eyed girl grinned widely as she pinned the golden eyed one to the ground.

Then Jeanette laughed, and Yuui allowed herself to fall on top of her best friend.

"There you go," rolling off Jeanette, Yuui lay down on the ground next to her, "you should smile, smile!"

"I _am_ smiling," Jeanette laughed.

"Don't let that guy get you into a tizzy," Yuui continued, "I know you're upset that you were so mean to him, but you can't help being overprotective of a cutie like _muah_!"

Jeanette lifted her arm and let her hand fall on Yuui's face.

"Oww...you're so mean, Nettie! I shall complain to your mom."

"No, you won't, Yun, or _I'll_ complain to _your_ mum. Anyway, first of all, you said ' _moi'_ wrong. Second, who on earth calls themself cute?"

"I _am_ cute. Ask anybody."

Jeanette rolled over to scowl at Yuui. Her best friend only replied with a sweet smile.

"UGH!" Jeanette yelled, rolling on her back to face the ceiling. "I want your face! Give it to me! It's so damn unfair that you're a boy and you have that face!"

Used to Jeanette's complaints, Yuui only laughed merrily.

After having yelled at the ceiling for a good thirty seconds, Jeanette rolled back to face Yuui.

"I was so awful to that boy," she said quietly.

Yuui didn't answer, only nodding. Jeanette referred to everyone as 'boy' and 'girl', even if they were forty. The only exception was those above fifty-five, who she referred to as 'sir' and 'ma'am'.

"But it's like, you know," Jeanette closed her eyes, "I must be so careful of the people who approach you. I know you don't care the slightest, that you let everyone talk to you but it's so _annoying_ _!_ The last thing we need is another weirdo who kidnaps you again, or another pervert after the last three that you've attracted. Your mum went crazy the last time. And you _never_ do anything about your stalkers! Why do I have such a troublesome friend? _Why_ do I have such a troublesome friend!"

Knowing that Jeanette didn't really mean it, Yuui laughed.

"But I was so irrevocably _rude_. Mére would have been so disappointed in me."

"It's okay, it's okay," Yuui said soothingly, "thank you, Jeanette. You really are overprotective, huh?" Brightening, he clapped his hands together. "Oh! After we catch the stalker, you can apologise to him!"

"Are you crazy? Just because he isn't a stalker _now_ doesn't mean that he _won't_ harm you in the future," Jeanette pointed out, "you have the weirdest ability to make straight people all strange."

" _You're_ straight," Yuui answered, offended.

"Let me correct myself: straight people, not counting our parents and me."

"Technically," Yuui giggled, "once men fall from me they're gay."

Jeanette whacked Yuui in the face again.

"Ow!"

Talking to Yuui had helped Jeanette feel better, but she still felt guilty for the way she had treated that boy. First throwing her shoe at him, then restraining him, then firing cruel words at him...she justified it (justified it, with many silent apologies sent to that boy) by thinking of her friend, who looked like a delicate flower despite having been born male (legally registered female because of his mother wanting a girl and his father paying a bribe to the necessary people). Yuui seriously attracted stalkers, perverts and other similar weirdos like a flower attracted bees, ants, butterflies and birds. Because of that, Jeanette had learnt to use her tongue as a weapon among others to drive of potential weirdos. In general, if they started falling for Yuui at first sight when he was pretending to be a graceful and refined young lady, the boys who approached Yuui could be chased away with a stick.

Or multiple sticks. Sometimes a figurative bazooka for boys like the one who had staged a kidnapping. Beating that particular offender up had been extremely satisfying.

As she washed her hair, Jeanette silently reaffirmed her resolve to protect her friend. They had grown up together, Yuui four years younger than her, and Jeanette was determined to see Yuui safely into adulthood. Preferably with his chastity intact, but Yuui often did whatever he wanted so Jeanette decided to just leave him to his own devices when it came to his love life as long as it was consensual. And that the person he hooked up with wouldn't tell anyone that the 'takane no hana' or the 'Yamato Nadeshiko' (Yuui had multiple titles within his school, all pertaining to him being the 'ideal female' that no one should lay their hands on) of the famous Sakurazuka High - the all girls high school for refined young women where girls were all graceful, didn't need to swim, went on walks in long skirts...that Yuui was immediately accepted to even before his parents explained his _circumstances_ and provided a suitably huge _donation_ (read: Bribe) for the principal to approve - was a boy.

So far, Yuui's current boyfriend was doing pretty well. All the same, Jeanette was keeping an eye on him.

Jeanette dove into bed and pressed her face against her pillow. She apologised again mentally to all the people she had offended before in her quest to keep creeps away from her friend.

Her brain lining up every instance of her offences, Jeanette slowly fell asleep.

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 _Extras #2:_

 _First date, part 1_

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"Karma, are you free on Saturday?"

The question came when Karma least expected it: the queue for lunch.

"Huh?" Came out of his mouth and Karma whacked himself mentally as Nagisa blinked up at him with her big blue eyes and...god. It had been three weeks since Nagisa had agreed to go out with him and Karma desperately _needed_ to get rid of his filter. It should be illegal for Nagisa to be that cute.

He forced himself to focus. Saturday? Was he free on...

"Ah, sorry," the queue moved and Karma moved with it. Nagisa too took a few steps forward, "I've got a prior engagement, Bryon, Cyril and Taka want to go somewhere."

"Oh..." Nagisa scrunched up her nose. Cute. Wait, no, focus Karma. "What about Sunday?"

Karma wondered if he could get out of the brunch that his mother had lined up and the dinner his father had planned. On one hand, Nagisa. On the other hand, his mother could be very determined when she wanted something, as could his father (they often argued over who he had inherited it from), and he could only win against them maybe 12% of the time. The odds were looking very bad but if Karma told Nagisa he could make it but he couldn't, she'd definitely be upset and Karma definitely hated it when Nagisa was upset even though she was very cute-

"No good?" Nagisa blinked up at him.

"No good," Karma affirmed with a sigh, "the hag's got me booked in the evening and the old man's got brunch up from morning to afternoon."

"Oh..." she said again, lowering her head and her nose was still scrunched up. "Never mind then..."

 _Why's she asking...oh._ Karma froze. Could Nagisa possibly be trying to ask him on a date?

When they had started dating, Karma (who knew Nagisa was slow when it came to romance) had told Nagisa upfront that he would leave the reins to her - most of the reins to her, he liked kissing and touching her too much to hold back - though if it dragged out, Karma would take over. Potentially forcefully but hopefully not. So they had not been on a date even after two weeks and five days of dating.

Truth be told, had they not been in the same class Karma probably would have lost patience a long time ago. As it is, they spent plenty of time together. Walking to school together, chatting in between classes, eating lunch together and going home together...they spent a _lot_ of time together come to think of it. It was starting to sound very unhealthy. Karma should make sure Nagisa was still hanging out with her friends. It wouldn't do if his tendencies started rubbing off her; even he would agree that the world could only handle so much of him.

Besides, Nagisa was clearly having a hard time switching from friends to lovers. She got extremely flustered whenever Karma tried to hold her hand when they were walking back or when he tried to feed her snacks or when he called her funny little nicknames. His favourite thing to do was to tell her he liked her because she would squeak loudly and go red from head to toe. Ah, it was just too fun to mess around with her and her face every time after he kissed her...but he digressed.

"I'm free on Friday," Karma spoke up after a moment, "so if you-"

Nagisa lightly pushed him along. Apparently the queue had moved without him noticing and he was currently causing a roadblock. Karma strode over, continuing to talk. "-don't have club then our schedules match."

"I haven't had club for a while, Karma," Nagisa said lightly, smiling with a touch of sadness. Karma wished he could embrace her, but Nagisa had told him sternly not to interact over familiarly with her in school. Her smile lightened as she spoke a little faster, "anyway, if your Friday is free, how about we go out? Shall we meet by XXX station at five?"

"Sure." Karma only uttered one word, but looking at Nagisa's reply one would think he had given her the sun.

"It's a date, then..." Standing just a little behind him, beaming from ear to ear with her cheeks faintly dusted red, Nagisa looked radiant. "I'm so happy...!"

Karma's fingers twitched.

 _Oh god, why does she have to be so fucking cute. Oh god why why why_

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Come Friday, Karma was sufficiently ansty. They had parted after Karma walked Nagisa home (Nagisa telling him sternly to change out of his school uniform) and Karma couldn't help but wonder what Nagisa had planned. Knowing Nagisa, she had planned it out in tremendous detail and definitely had searched up tips and the like. Imagining her searching up date spots and fretting over which to pick made Karma smile. He liked how hard Nagisa always worked.

If it were Nagisa, what kind of places would she like? Nagisa was sort of super refined, but very cute at the same time. The museum kind; back in elementary school she was the sort (she and that Hisakawa) that listened to the tour guides when they went to art galleries and the like. As compared to him...

Karma thought of the arcades and skate parks he liked to visit. He and his friends were going to check out a new arcade on Saturday. It was said that there was a girl there who was crazy good at games; she had topped the scoreboard of practically all the games. Cyril, that impulsive guy, wanted to try to beat her. Karma was just going along to watch him get humiliated.

Come to think of it, they weren't very compatible, huh...

Well, whatever.

When he arrived at the station at five, Nagisa was nowhere to be seen. Since there was a constant stream of people in and out, he sent her a text on his location before settling down for the wait. As expected of Tokyo in January: it was bloody cold. At least he had planned ahead, with his coat and scarf.

Ten minutes later and still no Nagisa. Karma had texted her to no answer. What was going on? She clearly hadn't forgotten, they had talked about their date not three hours before. Knitting his brows together, Karma frowned contemplatively at his phone. Had something happened to Nagisa? If that woman did something...oh hell that woman. He started into the station, planning on going to Nagisa's house when his phone vibrated.

Karma blinked.

 _I'm so sorry! I'll be right there! - Nagisa_

Well, okay.

Not even a minute later did Karma see Nagisa running over to him. And well. Wow.

She was wearing a dusty pink dress which was cinched in at the waist and reached just above her knees, a knitted red wool coat, black tights and calf high black boots. And she was wearing a familiar muffler too.

Karma lifted his hand to cover his smile.

"Sorry I'm late!" She said immediately when she stopped in front of him, panting. Her face was all red despite (or maybe because of) the cold. "I-I mean. Sorry. I asked Hiro-tan to help me with getting dressed but I forgot to factor in travel time and I ended up being-"

Karma reached out and touched Nagisa's hair. She had curled it, waves falling over her shoulders. "Calm down, you," he touched his forehead to hers.

And poof, her face became even redder.

"Shall we go?" An itch had just manifested in Karma and he just knew that skin contact would make it worse. He leaned away from Nagisa and smiled at her.

"Y-Yes!" Nagisa barked out almost like she was following orders. Karma couldn't help but laugh. She looked so nervous, it was cute. "Don't laugh at me, Karma!" She protested.

"Yes, yes, let's go," Karma held out his hand to her, palm up.

Nagisa stared at his hand And became redder. At this rate, Nagisa's cheeks were going to match his hair.

"I...I'll be intruding on you," she whispered before slipping her hand into his. Her hand was so small, Karma thought idly as he closed his fingers around hers.

"You should get used to that," Karma couldn't resist teasing her, "otherwise how are we going to do more than hold hands?"

And poof again. The itch was growing.

"Heh, you're redder than my hair."

"That's because..." Nagisa's voice trailed off as they separated to pass the gantry.

"Because?" Karma glanced at her. Nagisa had been quite calm the day they started going out. It was only after that that she would get all flustered over contact of any kind.

Nagisa lowered her head shyly, then reached out and took his hand. Again her face got all flushed and again the itch was swelling. Before he could, though, she muttered something.

"Hmm?"

"It's nothing," she answered. Karma could feel her trembling from where their hands were interlocked.

There was teasing, then there was bullying.

"Do you want me to let go?" He asked, trying to sound gentle.

Nagisa shook her head. Though seriously, Karma was mildly worried about her. He didn't know a person could turn that red. All the same, he was getting pretty hot in the face too. Not that he'd let Nagisa see.

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Nagisa brought him to an aquarium. Karma wasn't quite sure what he had expected, but he was somewhat glad she hadn't picked a museum. On the train ride over, Nagisa had told him about the aquarium and something about how it was really cool and had a lot of jellyfish.

"I thought we could do some stuff first," Nagisa whispered as they entered the dark aquarium, "and it was cold so we should do some indoor stuff. I hope you don't mind?"

"I don't mind," Karma answered. Since it was still a bit cold in the aquarium, they kept most of their outerwear on.

"So after the aquarium, there's also this book cafe we can go too...or would you rather go elsewhere?"

"A book cafe sounds nice, but a little too slow for dinner."

"Oh, that's true..."

"Don't worry. I know some cafes nearby we can go to."

Karma wasn't sure, but he thought she smiled.

They walked through the only bright area of the aquarium, the aquarium tunnel.

Nagisa seemed to loosen up a bit. They had fun making fun of the fish's appearance. Or rather, Karma was having fun speculating other uses of the fish while Nagisa seemed amused but determined to ensure he'd never get the opportunity.

When he speculated buying one of the ugly fishes so he could hang it's tank over his parent's bed, Nagisa laughed but told him to not be mean to the fish.

"Besides," she added, "a photo would do the job just fine."

And if Nagisa put it that way, Karma got the ugliest possible picture of the ugly fish he had been talking about. He was going to print out a whole bunch. He was going to put it over his mother's picture on her identification card, over the mirror in her compact, on his father's gift to his mother and on his father's glasses. And he was going to get a giant blow up of a different weird fish up onto their ceiling just to see how long it would take his parents to realise.

Once they were through the aquarium tunnel, the aquarium was just dark.

With the dark lighting of the aquarium, it was hard for him to see Nagisa's face clearly unless they were in front of the tanks. That was definitely a disadvantage.

"Then I'll leave dinner up to you," her hand had stopped trembling, something Karma found a bit ironic. Trembling while in the open, relaxed while alone together...Maybe it was because she couldn't see him? Or maybe something else...he'd properly evaluate it later. "After dinner, there's two things I came up with. Do you mind picking?"

"Nope, not at all."

Right. Nagisa couldn't see _him_ in the dark either.

Which meant that when Karma found a nice dark corner between tanks, he could kiss her without worrying she'd see how red his face was. He couldn't help it; he'd been tempted from the moment they'd pressed their foreheads together at the train station. Ah, seriously, it was such a relief to be able to do it.

He kissed her again, feeling her arms go around him. One of his hands were playing with her newly-curled hair while the other was pressed against her back, pulling her closer...

Nagisa was nice and sweet and cute and it was just so fucking _brilliant_ that she was dating him. And she had planned out their whole date too but with enough leeway so that they could share opinions. God. She was cute.

He was probably smiling like a fool. Argh. This wasn't like him at all. This wasn't like him at _all._

He needed to pull himself together.

"K-Karma!" Nagisa whispered when Karma pulled away.

"Sorry, sorry, it's just that you look really cute," knowing that she was embarrassed at their position, he leaned back a bit. "Did you dress up for today?"

Nagisa went silent.

Shit. Did he say something wrong? He knew he should have said something about her clothes earlier but come _on_ there was no way he could praise how she looked without smiling like an idiot. And he knew it was just his stupid ego talking but he _did_ want to look cool in front of Nagisa. Which involved not smiling like an idiot. And not blushing redder than his hair.

Then Nagisa's arms were sliding around his torso.

"You really think so?" She whispered.

Okay, he couldn't see Nagisa's face but he could see her hair (what with how light it was) and he dropped a kiss there.

"Yeah."

"Thank goodness...I thought you didn't like it," she pressed her face against his chest and yep, it seemed like she wasn't so nervous because she couldn't see him so clearly (Karma very much had mixed feelings about that) otherwise she wouldn't have hugged him so tightly...post the dating thing. They did hug before they started dating and wow what a weird thought. He and Nagisa had been more touchy before they started dating than after. Weird thought.

 _Focus, Karma. Pull yourself together._

"Why wouldn't I like it?" He put his arms around her too. "You're adorable."

"Hiro-tan said it was okay but I was so worried you'd think it was over the top," Nagisa squeezed him tight, then laughed, "though you make it sound like I only look nice today."

"Of course not. You always look nice," Karma answered automatically. He felt Nagisa start in surprise, clearly not expecting that reply. Huh. Sometimes Nagisa was pretty weird.

He stroked the back of her head, then released her after a while.

"Shall we go?" Forget hand holding. Karma put his arm around Nagisa's waist. It was a date, they might as well get close. And Nagisa seemed braver now that it was darker.

She put her arm around his waist too which was definitely beyond his expectations.

"Yes."

 _To be continued..._


	23. :)

**Merry Christmas you all!! I was planning on uploading a chapter today, but I didn't make it. Sorry.**

 **But I really wanted to wish you all a happy Christmas so...**

 **HAVE A GOOD ONE YOU ALL**

 **BE MERRY!!**

 **M E R R Y . C H R I S T M A S**

 **Thank you for reading this for the past few years *bow***

 **Thank you for continuing to read.**

 **See you again next chapter!**


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